Study Finds Psychiatric Diagnosis to be 'Scientifically Meaningless’

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Study Finds Psychiatric Diagnosis to be 'Scientifically Meaningless’

Post by Spiritwind »

Having two very intensive years studying psychological principles as they are understood and taught at the college level, along with my personal life experience, study and application of astrological concepts, as well as my forays into the shamanic worldview and “treatment” of various conditions and life challenges, I find the following article hitting the mark. So many people I know are being treated with some pretty heavy duty so called “medications” to manage their symptoms (as it is claimed to be “brain chemistry” having gone awry - even though they can provide no real evidence to support this) and told there is no cure. The drugs do appear to keep the people I know more or less functional, but at what cost, and why is not as much attention to find better alternatives just as important (MONEY!). And, as the article points out, very little attention is paid to the part (rather ginormous I would say) trauma plays in the lives of those who must learn to live with a label that in some ways hurts and adds even more trauma.

Study Finds Psychiatric Diagnosis to be 'Scientifically Meaningless’

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A new study, published in Psychiatry Research, has concluded that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Liverpool, involved a detailed analysis of five key chapters of the latest edition of the widely used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), on ‘schizophrenia’, ‘bipolar disorder’, ‘depressive disorders’, ‘anxiety disorders’ and ‘trauma-related disorders’.

Diagnostic manuals such as the DSM were created to provide a common diagnostic language for mental health professionals and attempt to provide a definitive list of mental health problems, including their symptoms.

The main findings of the research were:

* Psychiatric diagnoses all use different decision-making rules
* There is a huge amount of overlap in symptoms between diagnoses
* Almost all diagnoses mask the role of trauma and adverse events
* Diagnoses tell us little about the individual patient and what treatment they need

* The authors conclude that diagnostic labelling represents ‘a disingenuous categorical system’.

* Lead researcher Dr Kate Allsopp, University of Liverpool, said:

* “Although diagnostic labels create the illusion of an explanation they are scientifically meaningless and can create stigma and prejudice. I hope these findings will encourage mental health professionals to think beyond diagnoses and consider other explanations of mental distress, such as trauma and other adverse life experiences.”

* Professor Peter Kinderman, University of Liverpool, said:

“This study provides yet more evidence that the biomedical diagnostic approach in psychiatry is not fit for purpose. Diagnoses frequently and uncritically reported as ‘real illnesses’ are in fact made on the basis of internally inconsistent, confused and contradictory patterns of largely arbitrary criteria and even placebo effect. The diagnostic system wrongly assumes that all distress results from disorder, and relies heavily on subjective judgments about what is normal.”

* Professor John Read, University of East London, said:

* “Perhaps it is time we stopped pretending that medical-sounding labels contribute anything to our understanding of the complex causes of human distress or of what kind of help we need when distressed.”
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