The training of the certified psychologists is embedded in a medically oriented matrix with a closed guild tradition. The professionalism of the medical model, with its aura and mystique, permeates psychological training. The completion of training allows them to mystify and dehumanize others, even though they have no idea of the process of dehumanization. Szasz Laing has shown that psychotherapy dehumanizes most of the psychologists who end up doing the same “role dance” with every client.
Our society is tormented by war, racism, and social destruction. Therapy has become a commodity, a means of social control. But to be true instruments of change, psychiatrists, psychologists must be liberated from their own forms of oppression.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 27, 1985
