Psychiatry, which has evolved from advocating cathartic conversations to prescribing antipsychotic drugs, is now weighing prescribing the mental salves as a preventive measure, that is, before people actually become psychotic. To give credence to the possible benefits of such prodromal therapy, psychiatrists who advocate the prophylactic procedure point to the behavior of many world leaders, past and present.
One psychiatrist pointed out that such a early intervention might have remediated nature or nurture tendencies that have given us the likes of Saddam Hussein and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As long as we’re speculating about the benefits of such therapy, we might as well ask if prodromal treatment, provided to the entire population, might not result in a saner society.
Such a course might finally disprove George Bernard Shaw’s quip that “the earth is an insane asylum for the rest of the universe.”
Tom Attea, humorist and creator of NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway and has written comedy for TV. Critics have called his writing ""delightfully funny" and "witty" with "good, genuine laughs." |
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