by Bruce Wiseman

About the author: Bruce Wiseman is the national president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, an organization that advocates the abolition of psychiatry. He is also the author of Psychiatry—The Ultimate Betrayal.

During the 1995 New Mexico legislative session, State Sen. Duncan Scott proposed an amendment to a bill stating: “When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies during a defendant’s competency hearing, the psychologist or psychiatrist shall wear a cone-shaped hat that is not less than 2 feet tall. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. . . .”

While the New Mexico State Senate was voting in favor of the “Wizard’s hat” amendment, a Florida columnist proposed another solution. He recommended that the confusion created by psychiatric...