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Psychiatrists Cast Doubt On Biomedical Model of Mental Illness
jones_supa writes "British Psychological Society's division of clinical psychology (DCP) will on Monday issue a statement declaring that, given the lack of evidence, it is time for a 'paradigm shift' in how the issues of mental health are understood. According to their claim, there is no scientific evidence that psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are valid or useful. The statement effectively casts doubt on psychiatry's predominantly biomedical model of mental distress – the idea that people are suffering from illnesses that are treatable by doctors using drugs. The DCP said its decision to speak out 'reflects fundamental concerns about the development, personal impact and core assumptions of the (diagnosis) systems', used by psychiatry. The provocative statement by the DCP has been timed to come out shortly before the release of DSM-5, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatry Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The manual has been attacked for expanding the range of mental health issues that are classified as disorders."
Would most people be better off undiagnosed?
In a word, yes. Since "most people" would not be ill, neither physically nor mentally. This new edition of the DSM risks to change that, as in it provides a convenient way to slap "diagnostic" labels on quite a few people who're today considered pretty much normal.
Cue the observation occasionally voiced that what today is called "ADD" (and but yesterday called "ADHD") and results in prescriptions of ritalin, only a few short decades ago was called "being a kid". We are going a little bonkers with the mental, yes.
Would be nice if true. Fact of the matter is most people get 15 minutes, a prescription, and sent home.
Violence is like duct tape. If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.
I suffer from major depression. When I go off my mess I feel like crap. I stop being able to concentrate and I feel overwhelming hopelessness. On the wrong medication I was failing basic courses at uni. On the right medication I got credit/distinctions on average and have not only held down a job for 3 years but excelled at it.
I have gone off my medication in the past because I wasn't convinced that the problem was chemical rather than environmental. When I go off my medication I'm sometimes fine for months. But eventually things get worse. I've been on the same medication for 4 years now, I've yet to have any issues.
I explored several options before settling on medication. Even then I explored the possibility that the depression was environmental or situational. I've been proven wrong each time.
Are some people incorrectly medicated? Definitely. But the idea no-one needs this medication to live a fulfilling life is reckless and ill informed.