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did there used to be an anti-psychiatry community on lemmygrad? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 23 hours ago by chinawatcherwatcher@lemmygrad.ml to c/comradeship@lemmygrad.ml

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title. i took a few years off of all social media, including lemmygrad, but i could have sworn there was such a community back when i frequented lemmygrad before the break. i found one major post on the topic from 3 years ago and several comments that lead to errors, which i assume is because the posts they were under were deleted or removed. what exactly is the history there? if the community was banned or removed what was the reasoning?

furthermore, just out of curiosity, what are people's opinions on psychiatry, psychology, and the anti-psychiatry movement? i've been doing a lot of thinking and some research on all three as it relates to the development of capitalism and socialism, as well as my own personal experience. to me it seems to be another case in which a marxist framework is necessary to synthesize psychiatry/psychology and anti-psychiatry to come to a fundamentally closer approximation to the truth. topics such as where the line should be drawn between behavioral/biological conditions and the usage/role of psychiatric medication seem to be particularly hot button issues.

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[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm just speaking for myself personally but i don't like psyche altering substances, regardless whether they are prescribed or not. I live a pretty sober lifestyle. I stay away from drugs and i drink very little alcohol, mainly because i prefer to feel my feelings as they are, unaltered and undulled, whether they are negative or positive. I think of it like a pain response: if you are feeling pain it's an indicator, a signal from your body, and it might be better to pay attention to it rather than shut it off (within reason). But that's just a personal choice. If other people find medication or self-medication helpful that isn't any of my business.

As for therapy, it can be helpful for sure, and for some people it genuinely makes their life better. But we also have to recognize that there is now an entire industry built around it with a lot of money involved which creates certain incentives. And to some extent the necessity for therapy has grown out of the fact that we as humans need community and social interaction, we need family and friends to keep us emotionally and psychologically healthy. Unfortunately modern lifestyles under capitalism are often alienating and isolating and this creates a need for a replacement. And of course that replacement has been commoditized as a paid service.

[–] chinawatcherwatcher@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 20 hours ago

i think there's a lot of insight to reflect on here. the idea that (good) therapy is useful within the context of growing up in class society, but that it may not be necessary if people had strong, healthy relationships with others and their community is something that i've thought a lot about in the past week.

and the commodification is also a very important aspect, both as it relates to therapy but also psychiatry. just like any commodification of what should be basic public services, one can never be truly certain as to whether the primary reasoning behind any treatment is profit or health/science, when the two are diametrically opposed. therefore skepticism of bourgeois science and medical practice is not only rational but necessary, while also accepting its progressive nature. it can just be a very challenging thing to balance, i think.

as far as it relates to your sober lifestyle, that's really interesting and totally makes sense to me: feelings are signals that you need to process something, or act in some way, and dulling those senses (especially long-term) can even be dangerous in the right circumstance. personally i've found mind-altering substances useful both as coping mechanisms but also just as ways to know what it's like to experience a lack of chronic mental health symptoms, which then gives my unaltered mind insight as to what the underlying mechanisms for those symptoms may or may not be.