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As some of you may have seen in a previous post, I have read a book called Psychiatry May Be Hazardous To Your Health by Dr. William Glasser. I recommend it as a must-read, even if you don't agree with the book.

His book advocates choice theory, which proposes that there are no such thing as actual mental illnesses as listed in the DSM-IV, but rather, these symptoms that physically and mentally manifest themselves in people are signs that people are unhappy with their life as it is, and thus are "sick".

Most of all, the author seems to be firmly against drugs, saying that there is no chemical imbalance, but simply that we are choosing to feel as we do. The book also exposes flaws modern day psychiatrist and psychologists tend to do and put more and more people on drugs rather than deal with the person.

Personally, I have tried the concept on choice theory in my life, and it seems to help a bit. My questions are:

1.) Has anyone heard of choice theory?
2.) Do psychiatrists today give drugs more than therapy? If so, why?
3.) Does mental illness actually behave this way, or does it truly take drugs to cure someone?
4.) -looks around nervously- Do mental illnesses actually exist, or is Dr. Glasser right?

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Thanks for any answers I get; I'm planning to make a career in this field and thus I'm reading things like this to get a better understanding of things.

Well prescribing drugs have been more of a first choice than seeking therapy. People seem to think that medicines can help with an illness faster, but then think about the placebo effect. Giving someone a mis-marked tic-tac and telling them that it's a new drug to correct a behavior, will more than likey cause the patient to believe that it helps.

Personally, I believe, if it's considered a mental illness, then it's a matter of thought process. Almost like re-training to create a new, more positive thought pattern.

maybe you really can psych yourself into or out of anything though.. like with a lot of problems i have had in my life, they really were all in my head. and my mind seems to have a lot of influence over physical stuff too, i have had a million different psychosomatic symptoms over the years, and just by thinking about it i have changed the color of my eyes and the lines on my palm. maybe it's just my imagination =) i'm rambling at any rate.

I forgot to mention that in reality therapy does not focus on the symptoms of disorder an individual may possess but, the choices they can make to change present and future events.

You should research it! its an interesting theory.