Word: psychiatrists
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Mind & Mouse. Psychiatrist Sargant, 50, thought he saw similar mechanisms in the breakdowns of British soldiers and heavily bombed civilians in World War II. From his evidence that the strongest-willed soldier would collapse if battle stress were sufficiently prolonged, Dr. Sargant took a flying leap to the conclusion that virtually any man's mind, if it cracks, will follow one of the behavior patterns that Pavlov thought he saw in dogs. At first, says Sargant, the mind seems to equalize all stimuli and reacts with the same intensity to a bomb attack or the squeal of a mouse...
...have always fought for control over the minds of their fellows, but it is only recently-largely because of the furor over brainwashing-that the methods of gaining such control have been openly and widely debated. In a new book (Battle for the Mind; Doubleday, $4.50), British Psychiatrist William Sargant lays out a pat theory to explain as essentially the same not only political brainwashing and extorted confessions but religious conversions as well. The all-purpose key, according to Sargant, is to be found in the theories of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), the Russian physiologist and would-be psychologist...
...previously (TIME, May 14, 1956). He and his colleagues believe that schizophrenia is a "genetically determined metabolic disease"-i.e., a disorder of body chemistry which reflects a defect in the inherited genes. He relegated emotional stress, generally regarded as a major cause of the illness, to a minor role. Psychiatrist Heath also suggested that schizophrenia is far commoner than usually recognized, and that "the overwhelming majority of patients reporting to the psychiatrist for treatment are probably suffering to some degree from this disease." (At least half of all mental patients are now recognized as schizophrenics...
Immediate cause of the ruckus was a strident protest by a staff psychiatrist, Dr. Jordan Scher, against the institute's decision to drop (as of July 1) his project for a forceful, unorthodox treatment of schizophrenic patients. He is getting results, claims Psychiatrist Scher, by being stern with schizophrenics, making them work, and forcing them into social situations (usually with the aid of relatives). It was too soon to judge whether Scher's method had any value (similar techniques have previously been tried and found wanting). In any case, he violated all the rules of the psychiatric club...
Stiff Questions. One diagnosis of NIMH's current troubles is that Clinical Director Cohen is highly permissive for a father-figure and tries to give subordinates a free hand in working with patients. But even this permissiveness ran out when Psychiatrist Scher made ambitious demands for guarantees of space, facilities and money to continue his experiment in treating schizophrenics "tough." Cohen ordered the six patients in Scher's special project transferred to a state hospital, provoking angry protest from their families. Last week a congressional subcommittee" on appropriations handed Director Felix a set of stiff questions...