originally published 9/30/1993

In a 1992 article in The American Scholar, psychiatrist Paul McHugh wrote: “Psychiatry is a rudimentary medical art. It lacks easy access to proof of its proposals even as it deals with disorders of the most complex features of human life-mind and behavior. Yet probably because of the earlier examples of Freud and Jung, a belief persists that psychiatrists are entitled to special privileges — that they know the secret of human nature and thus can venture beyond their clinic-based competencies to instruct on non-medical matters: interpreting literature, counseling the electorate, prescribing for the millennium.” In this Archive Feature (from Volume 4 of the Mars Hill Tapes), McHugh talks with Ken Myers about the dangers of trusting psychiatry more than it deserves. [NOTE: See below for a link to a longer version of this interview.]

12 minutes

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A much longer edit of the interview with Paul McHugh is available as a Friday Feature published on August 11, 2023.

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