(Published originally in Diario16Plus) Psychiatrists are in charge of treating what they call “mental illnesses”; but if you ask one of them, “What is the mind?” he or she will probably not know the answer. Some daring person will say, perhaps, that it is another name given to the brain. He will say that mind and brain are the same thing, but then why don’t the “Mental Health Units” treat brain diseases? Why, with diagnostic tests (such as X-rays, ultrasounds, tomographies, etc.) can brain lesions be evidenced and not mental diseases? Why, by going to different psychiatrists, can different diagnoses be obtained? Have psychiatrists ever cured any mental disease? Which one? When?
A human brain can be damaged by trauma (just as an electronic brain can be damaged by a blow). In such a case it may start to malfunction. A “stroke” can also cause the paralysis of certain parts of the body, because the area of the brain that controls them has been damaged due to lack of blood supply. In all these cases, in which there is evident bodily damage, it will be a neurosurgeon who will try to repair it, not a psychiatrist. Why don’t psychiatrists also repair brain damage, if brain and mind are the same thing?
No one disputes that the brain is the organ that governs that machine we call the body, but just because it governs it does not mean that it makes conscious decisions. The brain arranges everything necessary, for example, so that we have a good digestion, and it does it automatically, as a rule, but what or who decides to put indigestible delicacies in the body? Who decides to get drunk and thereby cause the malfunctioning of most of the organs of the body, including the brain?
The brain regulates all organ functions. From birth (actually, from much earlier, from the very instant of conception) it is in charge of regulating our growth, which not only consists of increasing our body volume and mass but also of redistributing it proportionally, i.e. mathematically. Isn’t that why you still look “the same” having changed so much? The brain manages the body’s growth and also its decline, and it does so without receiving instructions, indeed, contrary to any instructions you may give it, because do you want to grow old? Do you think that if you order your brain to stop the aging process, it will obey you?
Obviously, “that” (or “it”) capable of positioning itself against the brain, cannot be the brain itself; it must be “something else”, and we call that something else “mind”. Moreover, we can be sure that we have only one brain, but do we have only one mind? Is it the same mind that decides to go on a diet and the one that decides to skip it? Is it the same mind that decides to stop smoking and the one that decides to “go on a binge”? Do you think that if you order your mind to stop thinking, it will obey you?
If you ask a psychiatrist these questions, he/she will probably not know how to answer. They work in “Mental Health Units” but nobody taught them what the mind is, that’s why they can’t even cure themselves, because don’t they get upset too? Don’t they get drunk, from time to time, and thus kill, a lot of neurons, of their own brain?
A few days ago (12/07/24) the Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary revealed, on its website, that the Supreme Court has dismissed the action brought by the Spanish Society of Psychiatry against two associations (CCHR and CCDH) for alleged violation of the right to honor. Specifically, these associations claimed that “psychiatrists are criminals, precursors of genocides, responsible for the erosion of education and justice, inciters of drug addiction, drug traffickers, fraudulent practitioners or managers of violence and terrorism, that some psychiatrists sexually abuse their patients and even that there are an undetermined number of coercive abortions in Spain at the hands of psychiatrists”. Despite such harsh words, the Supreme Court decided to protect the defendants, understanding that their statements “deal with a matter of undoubted general interest, which is the debate on certain practices in the field of psychiatry and, specifically, on involuntary hospitalizations, the use of psychotropic drugs, especially when the patients are children or adolescents, or surgical or electroconvulsive treatments“. The Supreme Court also understands that “These opinions and value judgments are not devoid of a sufficient factual basis” (which is like saying that the defendants proved to tell the truth) “And with respect to the context in which the statements in question are made, although some could be considered excessive, CCDH’s conduct in making these publications is part of a public debate of great importance in today’s society, so that agreeing to remove such publications would be an excessive restriction of freedom of expression that would not be justified by a pressing social need“.
Undoubtedly, the Supreme Court’s ruling marks a before and an after because if discussing the misdeeds of psychiatrists was a risky mission, now it is justice itself that encourages us to do so. They went to court, for their honor, and they were wrong. If they don’t know what the mind is, wouldn’t it be more honorable for them to try to find out?
-/-/-/
Written in Spanish by José Miguel Ruiz Valls – Graduate in law from the UNED (Spain). He changed his profession from lawyer to writer after more than 20 years of forensic practice. Author of the essay books “Todo Tiene Una Razón (Everything has a reason)” and “Todo Al Revés (Everything upsidedown)”.
