In 2013 the British Psychological Society released a report whose abstract reads:
“This isn’t an argument between psychologists and psychiatrists. Many psychologists, many psychiatrists and many health professionals are united in saying that the evidence for the current way of understanding mental distress, just doesn’t exist”.
“… there is need to move away from psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, personality disorder and conduct disorder, which have significant conceptual and empirical limitations, and develop alternative approaches which recognise the centrality of the complex range of life experiences in the emergence of mental distress, and the personal impact of social and relational circumstances including trauma.”
The best overview of the report comes from a short interview (5 minutes) with Dr. Lucy Johnstone (Consultant Clinical Psychologist), on BBC Radio 4.
You can listen to the interview here.
And you can read an abridged transcript of the interview here.
