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Full-Text Articles in Theory and Philosophy

Fraudulent Therapies In Psychology: The Enduring Value Of Science., W. Joseph Wyatt Jun 2014

Fraudulent Therapies In Psychology: The Enduring Value Of Science., W. Joseph Wyatt

W. Joseph Wyatt

Therapy is an effort, based upon scientifically derived principles, to optimize the ration of positive-to-negative reinforcers, for the individual and for society. Fraudulent therapies do not derive from scientific principles. Among these are orgone therapy, re-birthing, facilitated communication, recovered memory therapy, alien abduction, and past-life therapy.


What To Do, Now That Big Pharma And Psychiatry Have Thrown Empiricism Under The Bus, W. Joseph Wyatt Jun 2014

What To Do, Now That Big Pharma And Psychiatry Have Thrown Empiricism Under The Bus, W. Joseph Wyatt

W. Joseph Wyatt

Organized Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry have worked toward a mutually reinforcing cultural zeitgeist, to wit: the majority of psychological/behavioral disorders are biologically caused and medications are the treatments of choice. The history of this phenomenon and its implications for behavioral practitioners will be presented.


Biological Psychiatry: A Practice In Search Of A Science, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff Apr 2014

Biological Psychiatry: A Practice In Search Of A Science, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

W. Joseph Wyatt

The rise of the biological causation model in the past thirty years is traced to psychiatry’s efforts to regain lost status and to protect itself from intrusions by non-medical practitioners, as well as to the pharmaceutical industry’s drive for profits. Evidence in support of the model, including studies of identical twins and of brain structure and function, are less revealing than was earlier thought, due to problems in methodology and interpretation. Organized psychiatry, when challenged in 2003, was unable to provide compelling evidence for biological causation of most mental and behavioral disorders. A paradigm shift away from biological causation and …


Six-To-One Gets The Job Done: Comments On The Reviews, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff Apr 2014

Six-To-One Gets The Job Done: Comments On The Reviews, W. Joseph Wyatt, Donna M. Midkiff

W. Joseph Wyatt

We are pleased to note that six of the seven responses to our article were marked by approval, and/or thoughtful contemplation, regarding our central theses—that the research said to support biological causation of mental disorders is relatively weak, and that the claims of drug effectiveness are often overstated.