Rationally Speaking Podcast Rationally Speaking #98 - Jerome Wakefield on Psychiatric Diagnoses: Science or Pseudoscience?
Dec 8, 2013
Jerome Wakefield, a professor of social work and psychiatry at NYU, dives into the controversies surrounding psychiatric diagnoses. He questions the objectivity of the DSM and the blurred lines between normal emotional responses and clinical disorders. The conversation highlights how cultural influences affect the classification of mental health issues, including the evolving definitions of grief and gender identity. Wakefield critiques the pharmaceutical influence on diagnoses and urges for a more nuanced understanding of mental health classification.
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DSM Evolution
- The DSM, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, has evolved from a record-keeping tool to a diagnostic manual.
- It defines mental disorders and is used by various professionals, influencing how we understand mental illness.
DSM's Growing Size
- The increasing number of mental disorders in the DSM is not due to making up disorders but refining categories.
- Old categories are divided into more specific ones, reflecting increased understanding rather than an expanding domain.
Defining Disorder
- Defining mental disorders based on symptoms alone can be inaccurate without understanding etiology.
- This can lead to misclassifying normal distress as mental disorder, as seen with fever once being considered a direct toxicity symptom.
