Peer Review

Successful Schizophrenia

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This web site offers several documents to support the contention that psychiatry and mental illness are self-serving inventions designed to perpetuate myths. There are links to support organizations as well as related sites.
Type of Material:: Text.
Recommended Uses:: This material could be the basis of several activities for college students around critical thinking and assessing the validity of information. This site could also be used in a discussion of mental illness and of those who take
the position that there is no such thing as mental illness.
Technical Requirements:: None.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Successful Schizophrenia is intended to persuade readers that psychiatry and mental illness are invalid and misleading concepts. The stated mission of the site "..is to help psychiatry (for its own good) free itself from the delusions that keep it from being an effective medical speciality and to provide proof that thousands of people are right when they say they are NOT mentally ill"
Target Student Population:: College students.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Although not imperative, some knowledge of the mental health field would be useful in fully understanding and evaluating the arguments presented. Some articles do contain professional and technical terminology which may not be clearly understood by the general public.

Rating:
Strengths:: The material is presented in a very convincing format. Since several authors are cited and linked, there is an appearance that these views are widely held. Many points are well-stated and documented. The section labeled "stories" adds a personal perspective to the debate.
Concerns:: The lack of solid and scientific research (i.e., empirical data) creates an emotionally based case for the author's perspective. The credentials and credibility of authors are seldom presented, leading to the supposition that much of the material is personal opinion. Most of the material on the site, however, is written by the site's author who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

Rating:
Strengths:: This material would be useful in a "taking sides" debate in a psychology class. Since the position is so extreme, it would likely foster lively interaction. A critical thinking activity identifying the author's methods of persuasion could be easily developed, as well as an examination of the many questions the site raises about the coverage of mental illness by the media.
Concerns:: Readers with limited background in this debate might be unduly swayed toward this extreme position since this site offers only one side of the issue.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is very straightforward and user-friendly. Only one link failed to connect.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: This site is thought-provoking in that it challenges conventional attitudes toward psychiatry and mental illness.
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