Prescriptions Of The Mind Analysis

The book I read and analyzed was Prescriptions of the Mind, A Critical View of Contemporary Psychiatry by Dr. Joel Paris. I choose this book since I am fascinated with how in the introduction of Prescriptions for the Mind it said, “Psychiatrists are experts on the mind and maladies. But no one is quite sure anymore what it is they do” (Paris, 2008. p. xii). I found this statement to be very interesting and keep this in mind while reading this book. As a to-be psychology major, I found this quote to explain how psychology and a psychologists’ job is not straightforward. A psychiatrist has a difficult role since they either should act like neurologists or psychologists. A neurologist is more focused on examining the patient and providing treatment,

In chapter 3 it discussed how psychiatrists make a diagnosis. A proper diagnosis is very important for many reasons. The main reason is that it keeps all doctors on the same path and to make sure they have the same observations. Dr. Paris believes that psychiatrists lack understanding of the pathogenesis of metal disorders. Dr. Paris also believes that this also is a fine line between pathology and normal. I found it interesting how there is so much information about infectious but when it comes to mental illness we are unsure of the actual problem. In this chapter I learned about symptoms and signs. Symptoms are what a patient describes while signs are observable by a psychiatrist. This is often why it is so difficult for psychiatrists to properly diagnosis a

I found this chapter to be very interesting since it explained how psychiatrists gained prestige. Psychiatrists used to rarely prescribe medicine and did not focus as much in the medical field. This has changed due to the increase in mental health prescriptions. The author’s view on psychiatry that it needs to be improved. He believes that today psychiatry is more focused on opinions rather than factual information. The book described how in the 1960’s community psychiatry gained popularity and then rapidly declined (Paris). This was followed by the the 1970’s with psychiatrists believing that medications could cure anything (Paris). I did find it bizarre that this section mentioned the fads in psychology and how they are often not questioned by people. This shows how the field of psychology does not have a definite answer or