The Battle to Define Mental Illness

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

Every so often Al Frances says something that seems to surprise even him. Just now, for instance, in the predawn darkness of his comfortable, rambling home in Carmel, California, he has broken off his exercise routine to declare that “there is no definition of a mental disorder. It’s bullshyt. I mean, you just can’t define it.” Then an odd, reflective look crosses his face, as if he’s taking in the strangeness of this scene: Allen Frances, lead editor of the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (universally known as the DSM-IV), the guy who wrote the book on mental illness, confessing that “these concepts are virtually impossible to define precisely with bright lines at the boundaries.” For the first time in two days, the conversation comes to an awkward halt.

Trying to get a handle on why certain things are considered a mental illness, while others aren't. This is a long read.

Full article: Inside the Battle to Define Mental Illness | Wired Magazine | Wired.com

Further reading from a couple dozen psychiatrists (including prior DSMV Editors) attempting to define it as of this year:

Conceptual and Definitional Issues
http://www.peh-med.com/content/pdf/1747-5341-7-3.pdf

Conservatism and Pragmatism Issues
http://www.peh-med.com/content/pdf/1747-5341-7-8.pdf

Utility and Alternative Approaches
http://www.peh-med.com/content/pdf/1747-5341-7-9.pdf​

 

[Type Username Here]

I wanted to bring up a discussion on this here but it would be too controversial. I was asked by one of my professors a question that I am still struggling with.

But to bring it up here would be inviting loons, trolls, and emotional responses from both sides of the argument.

 

[Brown_Pride]

very good read...

every fight over nomenclature threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the profession by revealing its dirty secret: that for all their confident pronouncements, psychiatrists can’t rigorously differentiate illness from everyday suffering. This is why, as one psychiatrist wrote after the APA voted homosexuality out of the DSM, “there is a terrible sense of shame among psychiatrists, always wanting to show that our diagnoses are as good as the scientific ones used in real medicine.

Dude basically flat out says their definition of certain things lead to outbursts of those "diseases", which i've long suspected.

THis will be a fight that will affect EVERYONE one some level and i'mshocked that it's the first time i'm hearing about it...

 

[Type Username Here]

There are a lot of people in the scientific/medical community that look down on psychology field, mainly due to these issues.

Sir Ken Robinson spoke about it and he said:

The idea of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a credible diagnostic term has passed and it is time that we accept that and move on. Fads and disappointments are not new to the field of psychology nor is the need for people to get beyond them...
And just this week, a Michigan State University study found that nearly one million children in America are potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD – in large part because they were the youngest and least mature in their kindergarten classes.Maybe the greatest problem regarding ADHD as a diagnostic label is that our faith in that label has distracted us and kept us from looking for the better understandings we should be seeking. Stress and sleeplessness lead to inattention. Frustration leads to anger and rebellion. Depression leads to indifference and a lack of enthusiasm.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

I don't think defining 'mental illness' is the problem.

Defining 'normal' is.​

 

[Mr. Somebody]

You're at the mercy of peoples opinions. Terminology for mental illnesses change over the years. Once i saw the psychology board cosigning men who dress up as women and get surgery to turn themselves into Frankenqueens, i knew the science had gone to hell and could only be trusted on a case by case basis.

They're putting kids who have good grades on medication and in stupid classes because they are "hyper active"

These demons are just in a stage where they are going to make more evil normal.

Its so demonic, friends.

 

[newarkhiphop]

I wanted to bring up a discussion on this here but it would be too controversial. I was asked by one of my professors a question that I am still struggling with.

But to bring it up here would be inviting loons, trolls, and emotional responses from both sides of the argument.

ask away we are all mature adults here.

 

[newarkhiphop]

And to accuse his colleagues not just of bad science but of bad faith, hubris, and blindness, of making diseases out of everyday suffering and, as a result, padding the bottom lines of drug companies.

Diagnoses of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder skyrocketed, and Frances thinks his manual inadvertently facilitated these epidemics—and, in the bargain, fostered an increasing tendency to chalk up life’s difficulties to mental illness and then treat them with psychiatric drugs.

Best advice i can give any of you with children is that no matter how much there school wants to have them evaluated because of any "issues" there having, don't under any circumstances let it happen.

 

[john goodman]

It's true that certain mental illnesses get trendy and over diagnosed by over zealous doctors

In the 60s/70s schizophrenia was hot and my aunt got diagnosed even though I suspect she's just a contrary lazy bytch

In the 90s, adhd was hot and they tried to stick it on me... Though my mother didnt go for it

 

[Guess Who]

As someone in the field...I find that many different illnesses have similar symptoms. I think the diagnostic model isn't a good one to use and rather placing folks on a continuum is more effective. Also, we need to develop tests that look for physiological markers of disease and not base diagnoses on observation and report...less subjectivity is required.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

very good read...


Dude basically flat out says their definition of certain things lead to outbursts of those "diseases", which i've long suspected.

THis will be a fight that will affect EVERYONE one some level and i'mshocked that it's the first time i'm hearing about it...

I mean yea, when you have diseases that aren't "classified" (as mental diseases used to be) obviously there is going to be technically an "explosion" of disease.

But obviously I agree with the premise that it's difficult to diagnose properly in those "threshold" cases where someone MIGHT have a mental disorder/disease.

ADHD has to be overdiagnosed as fukk though. Do Doctors personally make money from prescribing ADHD medication?

 

[Brown_Pride]

I mean yea, when you have diseases that aren't "classified" (as mental diseases used to be) obviously there is going to be technically an "explosion" of disease.

But obviously I agree with the premise that it's difficult to diagnose properly in those "threshold" cases where someone MIGHT have a mental disorder/disease.

ADHD has to be overdiagnosed as fukk though. Do Doctors personally make money from prescribing ADHD medication?

i hear yah on the explosion because it now "exists" tip but honestly i told my doc one time that I was having trouble concentrating and remembering shyt, he gave me a questionnaire and next thing i know I have adult ADD. Told him to go fuk himself.

Turns out I needed more sleep.

on the flip side of the theirs a drug out there called Nuvigil? OMG is it awesome lol.

 

[Serious]

I wanted to bring up a discussion on this here but it would be too controversial. I was asked by one of my professors a question that I am still struggling with.

But to bring it up here would be inviting loons, trolls, and emotional responses from both sides of the argument.

There are a lot of people in the scientific/medical community that look down on psychology field, mainly due to these issues.

Sir Ken Robinson spoke about it and he said:

Yeah but sticking kids on Ritalin isn't necessarily a bad thing imo. Kids can be a$$holes at time. I know I was. I got beat when I got out of line, maybe parents who kids exhibit signs of ADHD, should too...

As someone in the field...I find that many different illnesses have similar symptoms. I think the diagnostic model isn't a good one to use and rather placing folks on a continuum is more effective. Also, we need to develop tests that look for physiological markers of disease and not base diagnoses on observation and report...less subjectivity is required.

Very good point, I remember a couple months back, reading on how the taxonomy for diagnosing symptoms in complementary clinical settings tends to be largely outdated. A lot medicine tends work off patients displaying similar signs of a symptom, "disorder", or "disease" instead of a "concise" physiological marker. The diagnosis for Alzheimer usually comes to mind.

Which problematic within itself, because in nature certain species resemble others, but are physiological further away on the phylum tree...

Or more widely known, archaea & eukaryotes are linked closers together than prokaryotes. Despite prokaryotes and archaea resembling simple cell structures.

Moving forward, there's only one real solution, PUT SOME MORE COT DAMN MONEY INTO R&D.

 

[NZA]

tough field. whenever you involve personality and thoughts, you can't help but get further away from empiricism, which leads to all the over-diagnoses and explosion of new disorders.

and others in the scientific field can look down on psychology, but their more rigid fields of study are not helping much either, and in the case of new pharmaceuticals for BS diseases, you can blame that on chemists too.

 

[Serious]

tough field. whenever you involve personality and thoughts, you can't help but get further away from empiricism, which leads to all the over-diagnoses and explosion of new disorders.

and others in the scientific field can look down on psychology, but their more rigid fields of study are not helping much either, and in the case of new pharmaceuticals for BS diseases, you can blame that on chemists too.

sounds like capitalism(fair game) to me.