Categorical diagnosis and a poetics of obligation: an ethical commentary on psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.
Contemporary psychiatric practice reflects the hegemony of the DSM model of human emotional distress. Algorythms are used to decontextualize complaints of distress and classify them into distinct categories of "disorders" based on the presence or absence of specific "symptoms." This is usually followed by the prescription of psychotropic drugs. Such a reductionistic perspective and its mechanical approach to diagnosis and treatment have far reaching epistemological and moral consequences. In this article I address the moral issue from the postmodern ethic articulated by philosopher and theologian John Caputo, which he calls a "poetics of obligation." This position argues for the restoration of respect for the singularity, uniqueness and complexity of each doctor-patient encounter. I further argue for a disempowering of medical model psychiatry and a retrieval of an eclectic holism in psychiatric discourse.
Associated Psychiatric Services, 265 N. Causeway, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169, USA. PhilSin@aol.com
Phillip M
PM
Sinaikin
D032981:Dehumanization; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D028681:Moral Obligations; D033302:Postmodernism; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs