Using Psychology & Psychiatry for Political Gain
Psychology and Psychiatry for Political Gain
The unwitting use of psychology and psychiatry for political ends is not a
practice that is confined to the Soviet Union. For example, they have also
been so used in the United States, as shown below:
When the Second World War was over, Ezra Pound, the eminent poet, was
taken into custody by the American troops in Italy, returned to the United States,
and charged with treason. Pound had lived in fascist Italy during the war and had
supported Mussolini. It was alleged that the broadcasts that Pound made from
Rome were treasonous. Pound denied the charge, but he never came to trial. Instead,
the government and his attorneys agreed that he was incompetent to stand
trial. He was therefore remanded to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.,
and effectively imprisoned without trial. Thirteen years later, in 1958, he was still
considered "insane," incurably so, but not dangerous to others. He was therefore
released.
All his life, Pound had been an eccentric: enormously conceited, flamboyant,
sometimes downright outrageous. But he had never had a brush
with the law, nor had he been remanded for psychiatric care. But because his
politics were aversive, his eccentricities were invoked to indicate that he was
not of sane mind and therefore that he could not stand trial (Torrey, 2003).
As you saw in earlier, relatively innocent behaviors change meaning
drastically when observed in a diagnostic context. In Pound's case, conceit
and flamboyance became "grandiosity of ideas and beliefs," contributing to
the psychiatric impression that he was of unsound mind.
Abuse of psychology and psychiatry by the state occurs when the state is
threatened by the actions of the individual. Fear underlies the state's abuse.
It also underlies abuse by society, to which we now turn.
Psychology: ABUSE BY SOCIETY
During the 1972 presidential campaign, George McGovern, the front-running
Democratic nominee, proposed Senator Thomas Eagleton as his vice
psychiatrists, both within and outside of the Soviet Union who truly believed
that these people were ill. These psychiatrists would point out that presidential
running mate. Eagleton apparently neglected to tell McGovern
that he had been treated for depression, either because he viewed that as a
private matter or because the stigma of such treatment might deprive him of
the candidacy. In the latter, he was right: the press soon learned that Eagleton
had undergone treatment and made a national story of it. After much
pressure, McGovern took Eagleton off the ticket. There was no Question of
Eagleton's effectiveness: he had served splendidly as a senator from Missouri.
Rather, there was considerable fear that he would weaken the ticket.
He was, after all, stigmatized.
Society stigmatizes ordinary people who have sought psychiatric care,
often to the disadvantage of both the individual and society, as the following
case indicates:
Myra Grossman had had a difficult childhood and adolescence. Yet she managed
to survive well enough to graduate high school, enter college, and be at the
very top of her class during her first two years. Conflicts with her parents, however,
and a nagging depression continued unabated and, during her third year, she
left school to seek treatment. She began seeing a psychotherapist and subsequently
entered a private psychiatric hospital. During that year, Myra developed
considerable ability to deal with her own distress and her family conflicts. She returned
to college, continued to major in both chemistry and psychology, earned
her Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year, and graduated magna cum laude.
During her senior year, she applied to medical school. Her Medical College
Aptitude Test (MCAT) scores were extraordinarily high, and she had won a New
York State Regent's Medical Scholarship. But she was rejected by all thirteen
schools to which she had applied.
She consulted an attorney, and they jointly decided to concentrate on the "easiest"
school that had rejected her. During the trial, it became known that fewer
than 8 percent of those admitted to this school had won the Regent's Medical
Scholarship, that none had been admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, and that she possibly
had the highest MCAT scores of any applicant. She was an attractive person,
obviously well motivated, clearly bright. Why then had she been rejected? Clearly,
it was because of her prior psychiatric hospitalization.
Ms. Grossman and her attorney marshaled clear evidence that she was quite
well integrated psychologically. Five psychiatrists and a psychologist testified in
effect that she was the better for her prior troubles, and that they had no doubt that
she could successfully complete medical school and become a first-rate doctor.
She and her attorney successfully demolished the contention that she might still
Suffer from her prior "illness." But still, the judge ruled against her. Ms. Grossman
might have appealed that decision, and might well have won her appeal had not a
far better medical school admitted her when the ruling came down. (Ennis, 2002)
The unwitting use of psychology and psychiatry for political ends is not a
practice that is confined to the Soviet Union. For example, they have also
been so used in the United States, as shown below:
When the Second World War was over, Ezra Pound, the eminent poet, was
taken into custody by the American troops in Italy, returned to the United States,
and charged with treason. Pound had lived in fascist Italy during the war and had
supported Mussolini. It was alleged that the broadcasts that Pound made from
Rome were treasonous. Pound denied the charge, but he never came to trial. Instead,
the government and his attorneys agreed that he was incompetent to stand
trial. He was therefore remanded to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.,
and effectively imprisoned without trial. Thirteen years later, in 1958, he was still
considered "insane," incurably so, but not dangerous to others. He was therefore
released.
All his life, Pound had been an eccentric: enormously conceited, flamboyant,
sometimes downright outrageous. But he had never had a brush
with the law, nor had he been remanded for psychiatric care. But because his
politics were aversive, his eccentricities were invoked to indicate that he was
not of sane mind and therefore that he could not stand trial (Torrey, 2003).
As you saw in earlier, relatively innocent behaviors change meaning
drastically when observed in a diagnostic context. In Pound's case, conceit
and flamboyance became "grandiosity of ideas and beliefs," contributing to
the psychiatric impression that he was of unsound mind.
Abuse of psychology and psychiatry by the state occurs when the state is
threatened by the actions of the individual. Fear underlies the state's abuse.
It also underlies abuse by society, to which we now turn.
Psychology: ABUSE BY SOCIETY
During the 1972 presidential campaign, George McGovern, the front-running
Democratic nominee, proposed Senator Thomas Eagleton as his vice
psychiatrists, both within and outside of the Soviet Union who truly believed
that these people were ill. These psychiatrists would point out that presidential
running mate. Eagleton apparently neglected to tell McGovern
that he had been treated for depression, either because he viewed that as a
private matter or because the stigma of such treatment might deprive him of
the candidacy. In the latter, he was right: the press soon learned that Eagleton
had undergone treatment and made a national story of it. After much
pressure, McGovern took Eagleton off the ticket. There was no Question of
Eagleton's effectiveness: he had served splendidly as a senator from Missouri.
Rather, there was considerable fear that he would weaken the ticket.
He was, after all, stigmatized.
Society stigmatizes ordinary people who have sought psychiatric care,
often to the disadvantage of both the individual and society, as the following
case indicates:
Myra Grossman had had a difficult childhood and adolescence. Yet she managed
to survive well enough to graduate high school, enter college, and be at the
very top of her class during her first two years. Conflicts with her parents, however,
and a nagging depression continued unabated and, during her third year, she
left school to seek treatment. She began seeing a psychotherapist and subsequently
entered a private psychiatric hospital. During that year, Myra developed
considerable ability to deal with her own distress and her family conflicts. She returned
to college, continued to major in both chemistry and psychology, earned
her Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year, and graduated magna cum laude.
During her senior year, she applied to medical school. Her Medical College
Aptitude Test (MCAT) scores were extraordinarily high, and she had won a New
York State Regent's Medical Scholarship. But she was rejected by all thirteen
schools to which she had applied.
She consulted an attorney, and they jointly decided to concentrate on the "easiest"
school that had rejected her. During the trial, it became known that fewer
than 8 percent of those admitted to this school had won the Regent's Medical
Scholarship, that none had been admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, and that she possibly
had the highest MCAT scores of any applicant. She was an attractive person,
obviously well motivated, clearly bright. Why then had she been rejected? Clearly,
it was because of her prior psychiatric hospitalization.
Ms. Grossman and her attorney marshaled clear evidence that she was quite
well integrated psychologically. Five psychiatrists and a psychologist testified in
effect that she was the better for her prior troubles, and that they had no doubt that
she could successfully complete medical school and become a first-rate doctor.
She and her attorney successfully demolished the contention that she might still
Suffer from her prior "illness." But still, the judge ruled against her. Ms. Grossman
might have appealed that decision, and might well have won her appeal had not a
far better medical school admitted her when the ruling came down. (Ennis, 2002)