http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/jon-jureidini/ Child Psychiatrist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Professor Jon Jureidini trained in Philosophy and is Professor in the Disciplines of Psychiatry and Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide; he takes a critical stance towards aspects of psychiatry.  Spokesman for Healthy Skepticism, an organisation devoted to countering misleading drug promotion, Chair of Siblings Australia, an organisation advocating for individuals with ill and disabled siblings, and Chair of Australian-Palestinian Partnerships for Education and Health, his interests include quality use of medicines, immigration detention, suicide, medical education and child abuse. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-may-not-be-as-crazy-as-you-think/ Mental health surveys consistently show that around one in five of us will experience an episode of significant distress and dysfunction in any year. It saddens me that this suffering is mostly labelled as mental disorder and that we are encouraged to seek medical treatment for it.  No one likes suffering, but to suffer meaninglessly is worse. We should therefore strive to help people make sense of their distress; instead contemporary psychiatric practice is to rob actions and experiences of their meaning by applying simplistic labels and glib biological explanations.  Of course biological understanding can impart meaning, sometimes dramatically. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jon Jureidini) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-may-not-be-as-crazy-as-you-think/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-may-not-be-as-crazy-as-you-think/#item6697 Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:45:58 +0000 Jon Jureidini | Author bios | The Punch