The other day I was driving along Sunset Boulevard and something caught my eye... However, I was driving too fast to actually read the new "anti-psychiatry" banner fluttering in front of the Church of Scientology. I knew that until recently, the church had flaunted huge banners pronouncing, "Psychiatry Kills". But this was new... A friend of mine has just called me to ask if I've seen the new signs. Yep, the banner was different, all right. He told me the new banner reads: "Psychiatry: Industry of Death." And now, according to the sign out front, the church has even dedicated a museum to this provocative proclamation.
I'm not aware of the official stance the American Psychiatric Association has taken with regard to this strange attack but I imagine the Association has chosen to ignore it. I have seen representatives of the APA attempt to debate Scientologists on a few news programs and I happened to catch the actor, Tom Cruise challenging the idea of medication for post-partum depression on The Today Show. Cruise, on behalf of Scientology was using his expertise as an actor to discredit the actress, Brooke Shields' plight after suffering from post-partum depression. Mr. Cruise felt strongly that Ms. Shields should not have used medication to aid her in achieving her subsequent healing.
I muse about this, because this ongoing diatribe the Church of Scientology has against psychiatry is so completely absurd. I worry about the countless innocent people who are exposed to these ridiculous messages and may not have the education or understanding to contextualize them. What if some uneducated person is truly suffering and needs the help of a psychiatrist? Will he look out his car window as he passes a Scientology banner and decide not to seek the consul of a physician for the help he requires?
Psychiatry and the medical field in general, has its faults, but isn't it about time we have something purposeful to say against this strange and outrageous attack against an entire healing profession? Aren't these banners (and now museums) akin to a church rallying against kidney transplants? "Kidney Transplants Kill!" or "Transplant Surgery Kills!". I suppose the point of this blog is to let you all know, that I am a psychiatrist who views this insanity with my mouth hanging open. I believe "the church" finds a kind of false cohesion by lashing out at a branch of the medical profession. But at what cost? I wish there was something that I could do to redirect this church's frightening and destructive aggression.
Maybe this is a start.