No more psychiatric labels: Why formal psychiatric diagnostic systems should be abolished
By S. Timimi. 2014
150 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This article argues that psychiatric diagnoses are not valid or useful. The use of psychiatric diagnosis increases stigma, does not aid treatment decisions, is associated with worsening long-term prognosis for mental health problems, and imposes Western beliefs about mental distress on other cultures. This article reviews the evidence base focusing in particular on empirical findings in relation to the topics of: aetiology, validity, reliability, treatment and outcome, prognosis, colonialism, and cultural and public policy impact. This evidence points toward diagnostic based frameworks for understanding and intervening in mental health diffi- culties being unable to either improve our scientific knowledge or improve outcomes in clinical practice and suggests that we need to move away from reliance on diagnostic based approaches for organising research and service delivery. Alternative evidence-based models for organising effective mental health care are available. Therefore formal psychiatric diagnostic systems such as the mental health section of the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Edition (ICD-10) and Diagnostic Statistical Manual Fifth Edition (DSM 5) should be abolished. © 2014 Asociacion Espade Psicologia Conductual. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.
Subfields: Psychiatry and Mental health, Social Psychology, Philosophy
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/842ecdf4c955db5440d3cda07203dc77855254e7
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In Psychiatry and Mental health
In Social Psychology
In Philosophy
Citations in the corpus
- Resilience in psychology: A critical analysis of the concept (2018, background): “This scientism helped to conceal the fact that empirical evidence for psychotherapeutic and pharmaceutical technologies is no better than placebo treatments, especially in the long-term (see Timimi, 2014).”
- The Power Threat Meaning Framework: An Alternative Nondiagnostic Conceptual System (2018, unknown): “disorder, personality disorder, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, while the indications for “antidepressants” are said to include borderline personality disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia, panic and social phobia, among other problems (Timimi, 2014).”