&gt; Yes, 70 years ago psychiatry had some odd ideas.<p>Yes, that&#x27;s true, but in the name of accuracy, the Asperger&#x27;s fiasco wasn&#x27;t 70 years ago, it played out seven years ago, when the condition was finally abandoned after an epidemic of phony diagnoses (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2009&#x2F;11&#x2F;03&#x2F;health&#x2F;03asperger.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2009&#x2F;11&#x2F;03&#x2F;health&#x2F;03asperger.html</a>).<p>The Recovered Memory Therapy fiasco wasn&#x27;t 70 years ago, it played out in the 1990s -- you remember, when virgins could claim to have been raped and be believed (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arachnoid.com&#x2F;trouble_with_psychology" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arachnoid.com&#x2F;trouble_with_psychology</a>)?<p>The homosexual fiasco wasn&#x27;t 70 years ago, it played out in the 1970s, when homosexuality was finally abandoned as a diagnosis (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Homosexuality_and_psychology" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Homosexuality_and_psychology</a>).<p>But in all these cases, the abandoned diagnoses can still be offered by mental health professionals, and some still are, simply because there isn&#x27;t any science sufficiently persuasive to say &quot;no&quot; to anything psychiatrists and psychologists care to do.<p>&gt; It&#x27;s frustrating that you only make these comments about psychiatry - you don&#x27;t pop up in geography threads to say &quot;Wait, what? Does this mean geographers don&#x27;t still believe in fixed immovable continents?&quot;.<p>Geologists don&#x27;t have clinics. Geologists don&#x27;t issue press releases telling us how sick we all are, and how desperately in need of talk therapy.<p>&gt; A therapy might be involved if a person is hearing voices, but isn&#x27;t particularly bothered by them.<p>My point is very simple -- the health resources directed toward psychiatry and psychology, for what are fact either nonexistent or biological ailments, are wasted, and would be better spent on real science. Thomas Insel&#x27;s (director of the NIMH) proposed abandonment of the DSM was a good first step (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;tech&#x2F;elements&#x2F;the-rats-of-n-i-m-h" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;tech&#x2F;elements&#x2F;the-rats-of-n-i-m-h</a>), but more needs to be done.