By CCI Team
A human’s relationship with another human is a fascinating component of life. The act to which we form a bond with another individual is a beautiful thing. Whether people require daily contact or are content with once a week, people need each other and the proper nurturing of those persons is fundamental to survival.
The article, The Salvation of Psychiatry, talks about psychiatry’s role and importance in our lives. Author Robert Berezin talks about how psychiatry should be grounded in the quest for truth. Sometimes, despite its intention to seek knowledge, truth, and beauty, many of the theories and/or theorists have been proven false. However, the author states “the practice of intensive psychotherapy continues to be the hope for the recovery of psychiatry, psychology, social work, and other therapists” (2nd paragraph). He emphasizes the need for psychiatry to return it attention to the complexity of human nature. Any drug used to cure what is a bother to us is an insult to the human condition.
As the article continues, the author describes psychiatry as an art and a science. For the science, we are capable of tracing the development of ourselves in a way that is consistent with biology and the activities of the brain. He continues by saying real psychiatric issues reflect our life adaptations through the way we form life as a consciousness in the brain. He explains in the tenth paragraph, “Healing from the damage of being alive comes from mourning our pain and writing a new play of consciousness that is infused with love rather than sadism. Psychotherapy operates on this level, and the brain changes all on its own to reflect the organization of the new play.” In other words, psychiatry as an art operates through feeling connections with other individuals. Sitting together, with the pain, is truly a human experience of real engagement. This process is one that takes patients. Through genuine care and humility is when one can truly uncover what it means to fundamentally nurture others and ourselves back to health. The author articulates this well.
Overall, the author wants to express the absolute necessity of proper psychiatric care. “To plumb the depths of each patient’s character; to find our way with how trauma has been digested by each person’s unique temperament; to mourn that pain, not alone; to see psychiatric symptoms melt away; to bear witness to the fulfillment of each person; to be with each person’s unique journey is incredibly gratifying and effective” (Berezin 3rd paragraph). In other words, proper psychiatric care encompasses the whole of an individual. It’s an intimate relationship where two individuals journey through a healing process as equals.
“A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.” Albert Einstein.
The Salvation of Psychiatry
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