Back as an undergrad at Trent University, several professors were quite influential to my academic growth. One taught psychology and English lit., another looked at the sociology of science, and a third lectured on Asian philosophy. There were other great professors but these three spoke most directly to these stories appearing so many years later, as outlined below.
Trent really got the ball rolling for me, and I never looked back. When I did my M.A. in India I was ready to see the world in fresh, new ways. By the time I arrived at doctoral studies, I was prepared for even more changes. And those changes certainly came.
My studies and personal transformation have always been intricately linked. So when I critique those who view psychiatry as some kind of infallible church, I’m not speaking lightly. I’m coming from years of experience and in-depth thinking on this topic.
Most disappointing is how young people today are finding it trendy to self-diagnose, as these stories indicate.
My undergrad experience may have been fantastic but sadly, graduate studies was mixed. One professor whom I wrote for in this area was all too willing to critique the Holy Bible from various scholarly perspectives but when it came to the DSM-IIIr (the psychiatric ‘bible’ at the time) that same professor just couldn’t wrap their head around the idea that, like the Holy Bible, the psychiatric ‘bible’ might in part be a cultural product.
And of course, it is. Just Google the history of psychiatry and homosexuality if you need quick confirmation on that point.
It’s sad when a graduate studies professor parrots the same kind of things that teens on Snapchat are saying. You would expect a little more depth and breadth from a professor. But that was not my experience, nor is it with many adults today.
For many, psychiatry has become like a new religion. And it’s only a matter of time before we begin to see the fallout from this new ‘scientific’ hegemony.
Earthpages.org 
The Grammarly app got me guessing. I originally wrote “influential to” in the first sentence but Grammarly suggested “influential in,” so I changed it. But after thinking about it and searching the web, I felt “influential to” is better, so I changed it back.
Bottom line?
Don’t always trust the machine.
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