Only in LA…Psychiatry: an Industry of Death Museum

Near such prominent Hollywood landmarks such as the ArcLight Theaters and Amoeba Records, is Psychiatry: an Industry of Death Museum hosted by The Citizens Commission on Human Rights.  If you are thinking, “this sounds like something from the Church of Scientology,” you’d be right.  They make no effort to hide their connection to the Church on either the website or at the museum.

The museum is basically a series of short videos explaining the evils of the psychiatric industry.  There are also exhibits showing various pieces of equipment used in psychiatric institutions.  A large focus is placed on connecting psychiatry to the holocaust, and the suicides/overdoses of prominent figures in Hollywood/the arts.

In the end, it feels a lot like propaganda.  Taking events out of context, magnifying abuses, and using leaps of logic to get a specific point of view across.  Are there valid points in the exhibit? Sure.  But I feel they get lost in the presentation.

I do think, however, that we as a society (and by we I mean America) look for the easy way out too often.  That we expect some pill to fix us, when the mind and self are much more complex than that.  That the mental health industry is just as prone to greed and abuse, as many other industries. 

Is psychiatry complete BS as the folks at the CCHR would have you believe.  I don’t think so.  But I think there does need to be more of a balance in how we view and treat mental illness.  

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/only-in-lapsychiatry-an-industry-of-death-museum/