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Psychiatry and Astrology
Friday, November 2nd, 2007 10:01 pmNalan and I have recently become addicted to Desperate Housewives, having caught an episode on TV then gone out and rented the first two seasons on DVD. It's rather unusual for me to get hooked on a TV series that isn't by Joss Whedon and doesn't involve monsters, spaceships or superpowers, but it's hard to resist this charming tale of ordinary suburban folk agonising over relationships and occasionally killing each other. It's like Thirty-Something meets Twin Peaks (and even has Kyle Maclachlan for good measure).
Of course people on Wisteria Lane don't get possessed by ancient evil spirits from the nearby woods, but they are pretty screwed up, which is all part of the fun of it. Nalan commented that while she was watching, she had to resist the temptation to diagnose the characters "She's obsessive. He's a sociopath. She's compensating for low self-esteem by sleeping around ... that's just the kind of crap that psychiatrists come out with. Now wait, I've got to think what that's like ... I know, star signs! It's just like my mother saying 'Ah, well you do that because you're a Virgo.'"
Any man who has been married as long as I have (or even managed to keep a girlfriend for more than six months) knows that one of the best ways to maintain peace, harmony and mutual affection is to say frequently "You know, you're absolutely right!" In this case, I was able to say it with complete sincerity. The problem with psychiatrists is that they know a bit of neurology in the same way that astrologers know a bit of astronomy. OK, to be fair, there some psychiatrists who know a hell of a lot of neurology - I've even met one - but generally anyone who knows enough about neurology to be a neurologist will be a neurologist, not a psychiatrist. I mean, why would you want to spend hours listen to people going on about their problems when you could be making pretty computer graphics of their brains?
What psychiatry and astrology also have in common is that they provide a sense of reassurance to their practitioners by categorising people. If you put a label on someone like "Capricorn with Venus triangulating Azeroth" or "obsessive-compulsive multiple chronic spoonerism", they suddenly seem easier to understand and therefore easier to deal with. Apart from anything else, you can then give them birthstones or psychoactive chemicals.
Of course people on Wisteria Lane don't get possessed by ancient evil spirits from the nearby woods, but they are pretty screwed up, which is all part of the fun of it. Nalan commented that while she was watching, she had to resist the temptation to diagnose the characters "She's obsessive. He's a sociopath. She's compensating for low self-esteem by sleeping around ... that's just the kind of crap that psychiatrists come out with. Now wait, I've got to think what that's like ... I know, star signs! It's just like my mother saying 'Ah, well you do that because you're a Virgo.'"
Any man who has been married as long as I have (or even managed to keep a girlfriend for more than six months) knows that one of the best ways to maintain peace, harmony and mutual affection is to say frequently "You know, you're absolutely right!" In this case, I was able to say it with complete sincerity. The problem with psychiatrists is that they know a bit of neurology in the same way that astrologers know a bit of astronomy. OK, to be fair, there some psychiatrists who know a hell of a lot of neurology - I've even met one - but generally anyone who knows enough about neurology to be a neurologist will be a neurologist, not a psychiatrist. I mean, why would you want to spend hours listen to people going on about their problems when you could be making pretty computer graphics of their brains?
What psychiatry and astrology also have in common is that they provide a sense of reassurance to their practitioners by categorising people. If you put a label on someone like "Capricorn with Venus triangulating Azeroth" or "obsessive-compulsive multiple chronic spoonerism", they suddenly seem easier to understand and therefore easier to deal with. Apart from anything else, you can then give them birthstones or psychoactive chemicals.
