Posted by ed_uk on December 1, 2004, at 11:45:11
In reply to Re: The artificial nature of psychiatric diagnosis » ed_uk, posted by Larry Hoover on December 1, 2004, at 11:23:26
Hello,
ADHD is a set of symptoms. It is not a specific condition. I do not believe in the validity of any current psychiatric (not organic) diagnosis as a specific entity.
In many ways, rather than attemting to categorise, it might be best to simply list a persons problems.
You could apply this to schizophrenia for example............
Josephine Bloggs... suffers from paranoid delusions, auditory hallucinations and is socially withdrawn. She has been continuously ill for two years. The cause of her symptoms is unknown. Her symptoms first appeared one month after her divorce.
In many cases such as this, perhaps it would be best (and more honest) not to make a dignosis at all.
You said: The difficulty inherent in making the judgment should not be used to deny the validity of the diagnosis itself. When we view human behaviour on a continuum, we may be unable to agree on where the division between normal or maladaptive is.
I agree with this completely. This was not the reason why I was questioning the validity of diagnostic categories. The only reason that I mentioned the subjective nature of the decision to make a diagnosis was because you said that this statement was the most important...
'to a degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with developmental level'.
Regards,
Ed.
poster:ed_uk
thread:422741
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041201/msgs/422841.html