http://www.byron-harvey.com/2012/09/please-pray-for-warren-throckmorton/

Mental health treatment today is apparently in the same stage of development as physical health treatment was 5 centuries ago,

What’s amazing is not the amount of hokum, superstition, and “things we know that just aren’t so”, but that lacking both a solid theory, and effective diagnostic tools, that a competent therapist is genuinely better than no therapy at all.

Just as a competent 16th century surgeon could deal with a broken leg, even a compound fracture, and a Wise Woman knew that willowbark is a good febrifuge, we use various drugs, Lithium, Valium, Dextroamphetamine, SSRI and MAO inhibitors, but effective dose for individuals is guesswork, and it’s like trying to repair a cuckoo-clock when all you have are mallets of various sizes and weights,

I’m torn between feeling like telling psychologists and psychiatrists that most of their theory is inconsistent rubbish, and being amazed at how well they do despite that. What is it, 30% improvement in outcome vs non-treatment?

I think what helps most is having a friend. Someone who you can trust (just don’t study the theory of what they’re saying too hard), and who genuinely cares and is trying to help.

Neuroscience will hopefully add a chisel, an awl, and one day finer and finer screwdrivers and rasps to our collection of mallets. That, and a jeweler’s loupe. What it can’t do is add the skill of a master craftsman, the difference between a mechanic and a healer.

http://www.byron-harvey.com/2012/09/please-pray-for-warren-throckmorton/