they aren't sciences?

[Mad]

when was the last time you read a psych report on the neurological cause of schizophrenia for instance?

Straight from my psych book: "Amphetamine, LSD, PCP, and similar drugs produce effects that partially mimic the symptoms of schizophrenia. Also, the same drugs used to treat LSD overdoses tend to alleviate psychotic symptoms. Facts such as these suggest that biochemical abnormalities may occur in schizophrenic people."

yet psychologists spend most of their time trying to talk to people and identify their issues and mental disfunctions without attempting to address possible REAL causes that could be fixed.

Ah, you're talking about psychodynamic or humanistic psychologists. These are not the entirety of psychology.

What you don't understand, kojikun, is that there are 5 views in psychology.

Behavioristic focuses on ideas like classical conditioning, and follows the scientific method very closely. Controlled experiments are performed and data is collected, and the results analyzed to confirm or deny an hypothesis or theory.

Cognitive is like behavioristic but focuses in on covert behavior instead of the overt.

Psychodynamic is based on Freud's theories. It's rather subjective, but is also suprisingly effective. Freud may have been wrong in some areas, but he also seems to have hit upon some truth somewhere in his theories in order for it to work as well as it does.

Humanistic focuses on subjective ideals under the assumption that people need to grow and reach their full potential.

And, finally, there's the biopsychological view, which, as the psychology book I'm holding says, "seeks to explain behavior through activity of the brain and nervous system, physiology, genetics, teh endocrine system, biochemestry, and evolution; neutral, reductionistic, mechanistic view of human nature." Obviously, this method requires the scientific method to even have a chance of getting anywhere.

Obviously, you're thinking of the popular view of psychologists, and don't have a true understanding of the full depth of psychology. Individual psychologists specialize in certain perspectives, though they are aware of all 5 perspectives. You apparently haven't met a psychologist who focuses in on the biopsychological perspective. You also apparently didn't know they exist, which why I'm fairly certain you've never taken a psychology course. (If you did, you would've learned about this stuff within the first week of class with any competent instructor.)

[kojikun]

all the psychs i know of are of the kind you described mine as, so really im going on experience.

and yes many drugs mimic schizophrenia. but that doesnt explain whats going on. and the fact that a drug can mimic the effects shows its not a thought aberation at all.

[Mad]

all the psychs i know of are of the kind you described mine as, so really im going on experience.

And so you were making a hasty generalization. Please be more careful.

and yes many drugs mimic schizophrenia. but that doesnt explain whats going on. and the fact that a drug can mimic the effects shows its not a thought aberation at all.

You aren't looking at all the evidence. Human behavior is very complex. Psychological trauma has been correlated with schizophrenia, and so has heredity, so there appears to be multiple causes for schizophrenia. But appears that schizophrenia is related to dopamine.. either too much in the brain or the receptors becoming over-sensitive to the chemical. Multiple possible causes, same result.

Look at it this way: there are multiple ways a person can become depressed. Let's compare to hypothetical examples: A chemical imbalance in the brain from an odd diet for one person, and losing a loved spouse after decades of marriage.

A biopsychologist can help the first person, but would have trouble helping the second. Likewise, a cognitive psychologist won't have much success in treating the first person, but can help the second deal with the loss.

There are 5 major perspectives because each one has been shown to be effective in best describing certain behaviors.

By the way, you mentioned multiple personality disorder (at least, that's what I assume you were referring to with the acronym, MPD), then went on to talk about schizophrenia in your next post. I feel I should point out that multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia are two different things.