Mentally Ill Children, A Debate For Perspective.
Here is an interesting blog post on a morbid debate about whether to kill “feebleminded” children. I guess this is in an effort to preserve our species genetic purity.
In an article called ‘The problem of social control of the congenital defective: education, sterilization and euthanasia’, an argument was made that ‘defective’ or ‘feebleminded’ children, should be examined by a medical review board at the age of five and if so decided, be killed for the good of all society.
Take a guess where this article appeared: In Nazi propaganda during world war II? In some crazy racial supremacist’s magazine?
No… it appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry in an attempt to bolster an apparently accepted idea among psychiatrists in 1942. In the issue was an actual proposal to kill children who were mentally ill or retarded. Further, the issue is discussed within the context of eugenics and the murder of mental patients in Germany which was taking place during Hitler’s rule.
It’s often useful to understand the history of psychiatry in order to see some of their current practices in the correct light. Some examples come to mind: electric shock therapy, drugging patients with antidepressants that can cause suicide, drugging children and involuntary commitment. For more information visit psychiatry.info
Tags: Deaths Caused By Psychiatry, Disorders & Diagnoses, Psychiatric Treatment, Psychiatrists in The News, Psychiatry, Drugs & Children
