diagnostic labelling – A New Vision for Mental Health

A Psychiatric Diagnosis is Not a Disease

Author: Editorial 20th March 2024 0 Comments

“Here is the circular logic: How do we know a patient has depression ? Because they have certain symptoms. Why are they having these symptoms? Because they have depression.” This article by Dr. Jonathan Shedler has been published in Psychology Today. It…
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a coherent system

Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM), diagnostic labelling, disease model, Jonathan Shedler, psychiatry, Psychology Today

Rates of Prolonged Grief Disorder: Considering relationship to the person who died and cause of death

Author: Editorial 27th July 2023 0 Comments

This research paper – from Kara Thieleman, Joanne Cacciatore, and Allen Frances – has been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The abstract says: Background Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) was recently included in DSM-5-TR. The rate of PGD is known to…
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a coherent system

Allen Frances, diagnostic labelling, DSM, grief, Joanne Cacciatore, Kara Thieleman, Prolonged Grief Disorder, psychiatry, Research

Psychiatry Killed Tuva Andersson, Whose Problem Was Anxiety

Author: Editorial 13th July 2023 0 Comments

This article by Dr. Peter Gøtzsche has been published by Mad in America. It begins: “Tuva Andersson was 37 years old when she committed suicide in 2019 in her apartment where she lived alone in Sweden. Her mother, Karina Hjelm, wanted…
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a coherent system

anxiety, diagnostic labelling, forced treatment, Mad in America, Peter Gøtzsche, Polypharmacy, psychiatry, suicide, Sweden, Tuva Andersson

It has a huge and powerful lobby which turns with fury on its critics so I know this question will get me into loads of trouble but… does ADHD even exist?

Author: Editorial 19th May 2023 0 Comments

This article by Peter Hitchens has been published by the Daily Mail. It begins: “Does ADHD in fact exist? This week the BBC ’s Panorama programme quite rightly exposed some very worrying private clinics. In online consultations, staff had diagnosed a BBC reporter with ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder —…
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a coherent system

ADHD, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Daily Mail, diagnostic labelling, medical model, Peter Hitchens, psychiatry, ritalin

Psychiatrogenesis (Whither Psychiatry or Reform)

Author: Editorial 5th May 2023 0 Comments

This article by T.N. Tampiyappa has been published by Mad in America. It begins: “Having worked in multiple public services in the UK and Australia over the last 27 years, the constant personal struggle has been, ‘Am I doing more harm…
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a coherent system

diagnostic labelling, iatrogenesis, Mad in America, medical model, nocebo, Psychiatrogenesis, psychiatry, T.N. Tampiyappa

The importance of empathic listening for making meaning of distress

Author: Editorial 17th April 2023 0 Comments

This article by Robert Murphy has been re-published by Mad in the UK. It begins: “Psychiatry has failed to provide a definitive explanatory framework for mental illnesses, despite more than a hundred years of scientific and medical research. Its failure results…
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collaborative practice

biomedical model, diagnostic labelling, empathic listening, empathy, Mad in the UK, madness, meaning-making, psychiatry, Robert Murphy

Moving Beyond Psychiatric Diagnosis: Lucy Johnstone, PsyD

Author: Editorial 24th March 2023 0 Comments

In this interview , published in the Psychiatric Times , Dr Awais Aftab and Dr Lucy Johnstone discuss her criticisms of psychiatric diagnosis and her approach to psychological formulation as a conceptual alternative to diagnosis: “Aftab: Formulation has a long history…
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a coherent system, Uncategorised

Awais Aftab, diagnostic labelling, Lucy Johnstone, Power Threat Meaning Framework, Psychiatric Times, psychiatry, Psychological Formulation

Is Psychiatry Working?

Author: Editorial 24th February 2023 0 Comments

This series of 30 minute podcasts from BBC Radio 4 has six episodes: Crisis : Writer Horatio Clare and psychiatrist Femi Oyebode discuss psychiatric crisis care with patients and clinicians. Detention : How do we treat people, often against their will, under…
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a coherent system

audio, BBC, BBC Radio 4, coercive psychiatry, diagnostic labelling, involuntary detention, psychiatry, psychotherapy

How “Mental Disorders” are Diagnosed

Author: Editorial 9th January 2023 0 Comments

Published by the Inner Compass Initiative, this article “examines how diagnoses of ‘mental disorders’ differ from medical diagnoses, and reviews the reliability of mental health screening tests and other clinical methods for diagnosing mental disorders.” It begins: “Are there biological tests…
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a coherent system

diagnostic labelling, Inner Compass Initiative, mental health screening tests, psychiatry

Diagnosis as Self-Understanding & Self-Alienation: what you need to know about your diagnosis

Author: Editorial 30th November 2022 0 Comments

This article by Dr. Awais Aftab has been published on his Psychiatry at the Margins website. Although it’s very much open to question as to what extent the views expressed actually inform mainstream psychiatric practice, the article is nonetheless well worth…
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a coherent system

Awais Aftab, diagnosis, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders, diagnostic labelling, Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), Nancy McWilliams, psychiatry, Psychiatry at the Margins