Psychiatric/Brain/Hypnosis/Brainwashing info wanted

[Ariel]

[center]:pinky WANTED [/center]

[center]PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH/INFO[/center]
[center]BRAIN RESEARCHI/INFO[/center]
[center]HYPNOSIS RESEARCH/INFO[/center]
[center]BRAINWASHING RESEARCH/INFO[/center]

Working on a story called "The Talking Cure" that focuses on concepts of mind control and psychiatry. If you know about these topics or like research, I'd love your help and would happily credit you.

Some starter questions:
How do you diagnosis something like paranoid schizophrenia? Is it a blood chemistry type of diagnosis or more of a brainscan?

What are some techniques of brainwashing?

What are the ethics rules for a psychiatrist and a patient?

I know this is pretty weird so I realize there may not be too many takers, but I had to give it a shot before googling my life away!

Ariel

[KnightlyLove]

I don't know too much about brainwashing, but as for paranoid schizophrenia I think they're just all behavioral tests. Definitely not genetic in nature, and I know that schizophrenics *do* have weird brain stuff going on, but since there's a lot of uncertainty in such tests they rely on a set of symptoms in the DSM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic ... _Disorders
http://allpsych.com/disorders/psychotic ... renia.html
---> http://counsellingresource.com/distress ... renia.html

The basic rule is confidentiality (except not when harm to oneself or others is involved). Also I think psychiatrists have to do some kind of creed like doctors, but that's less formalized and somewhat obvious.

[Laragh]

Just to add to KnightlyLove, the diagnosis process is behavioural tests (I'm bipolar and I was tested for many different conditions before the bp one was labelled) and brain scans to make sure there's no organic brain issues going on (tumors etc that might cause hallucinations or change in behaviour)

Also, it is a looong process. In my experience, psychiatrists are hesitant to put a label on a condition and treat it as a 'one-off' unless a relapse occurs. It took quite a few manic/depressive episodes for me to get diagnosed.

[BeMyDeputy]

Yes to what's been said: it's a behavior thing, not a blood test or scan thing. The DSM lists the symptoms required for diagnosis.

Look up MK-ULTRA, an illegal CIA project on brainwashing. They used sensory deprivation, drugs (they loved loved LOVED LSD), and verbal/sexual abuse.

Remember that a psychiatrist is also a medical doctor: they hold M.D.s, and are bound by the same rules, including the famous "first do no harm" bit, as well as patient/doctor confidentiality. Furthermore, they have the legal ability and responsibility to hospitalize--with or without the patient's consent--if they believe the patient is a danger to himself or others. They are also generally (if not always) mandatory reporters for sex abuse. Psychiatrists are not to be confused with psychologists, or therapists. They have different roles and different training.

As for the patients, there are no particular rules. Like any doctor, the more accurate you are speaking to a psychiatrist, and the better you follow their instructions, the better they can help.

Psych drugs are a big complicated mess, and schizophrenia drugs in particular are not fun.

My future brother-in-law is in clinical psych, and bipolar runs in my family, so I may be in a good spot to help.

[drlloyd11]

Let me suggest two lines of inquiry
1-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
One of the most famous experiments ever..and also a song by peter gabriel on the record "so".
http://www.prisonexp.org/
Where they randomly divided college students into 2 groups following a bogus test. One group were the guards, the other the inmates.
It didn't go well and needed to be stopped.

2-Find a source of fiction like Philip K Dick or the movie "Videodrome" and treat that as "canon".
Just one of them, so it is consistent, but still try that.

[Trom DeGrey]

One of my good friends is a hypnotist, and I have been hypnotized several times. So, I can help with anything like that.

[RainbowNerdette]

Just about everything in the DSM is diagnosed by observation/questioning only. Psychiatric problems are usually not biologically diagnosable with the exception of brain injury (caused internally or externally like by a tumor, bleeding or a car crash or something) or genetic birth defects/development disorders like down syndrome.

Brainwashing is usually done by putting the brain in a traumatic/high stress situation while repeating whatever the goal is to wash it with. This can be achieved in many ways.

Ethics between a psychiatrist and patient are among other things confidentiality: A psych can only talk about anything you say to him if he has your permission to do so or when there is danger to the patient or others (in the latter case the people they can talk to are very restricted too) Strictly one-way relationships (psychiatrist doesn't reveal anything about themselves and can't get personally involved with a patient on any level).

That's all I know, but I'm not an expert, just a geek with too much wikipedia time on her hands