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Psychiatric hospitals and instrumental rationality
1Department of Psychiatry, Maine Medical Center, Portland 04101, USA.
Summary
Psychiatric hospital therapists misuse natural science models, neglecting interpretive approaches. This ideological overuse of instrumental rationality harms patients and societal stability, but democratic therapy offers an alternative.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Sociology
Background:
- Therapists in psychiatric hospitals often adopt a natural science model, treating patients as objects.
- Interpretive psychotherapeutic approaches are underused or misused for control.
- Traditional sources of meaning (ethics, religion, literature, art, political thought) are excluded.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the ideological reasons behind therapists' overuse of instrumental rationality.
- To examine the role of psychiatric hospitals in class domination.
- To explore the societal consequences of instrumental rationality in therapy.
Main Methods:
- Critical analysis of therapeutic models and hospital structures.
- Examination of the ideological underpinnings of therapeutic practices.
- Sociological and philosophical critique of instrumental rationality.
Main Results:
- Therapists' actions are driven by a desire to maintain hospital hierarchy and class domination.
- Instrumental rationality, when applied to personal and cultural issues, is destructive.
- Overuse of this rationality leads to decreased political participation, social integration, cultural meaning, and disrupted personality formation.
Conclusions:
- The overuse of instrumental rationality by therapists contributes to class domination and societal instability.
- Hospital therapists are complicit in these trends but can advocate for democratic therapy.
- A shift towards democratic therapy could counteract negative societal impacts.