{"id":2732,"date":"2014-02-12T11:33:02","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T10:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=2732"},"modified":"2014-02-12T11:33:02","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T10:33:02","slug":"the-definition-of-mental-disorder-evolving-but-dysfunctional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2014\/02\/12\/the-definition-of-mental-disorder-evolving-but-dysfunctional\/","title":{"rendered":"The Definition of Mental Disorder: Evolving but Dysfunctional?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Rachel Bingham<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the official classification of \u2018mental disorders\u2019. \u00a0This was the result of a successful public campaign and changing political views. \u00a0Yet, if homosexuality could be (wrongly) diagnosed as a mental disorder \u2013 using an official classification \u2013 what does this say about the other states that remain in the classification? \u00a0How can we be sure that other states are not being labeled as mental disorders solely due to discrimination and stigma?<\/p>\n

One way to respond to these concerns is to offer a definition of mental disorder, aiming to capture all and only genuine mental illness.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this has proved exceptionally difficult to do. \u00a0Definitions that rely only on \u2018facts\u2019 \u2013 information about the brain, the genes, and so on \u2013\u00a0do\u00a0not tell us whether or not a condition is really an illness. \u00a0They simply tell us about the underlying biology once we already recognize an illness to be present.\u00a0 For example, finding differences in the brains of people who are criminals or of people who have recently fallen in love would not prove these states to be “illnesses”; it would only show that different states of being are reflected differently in the brain.\u00a0 It is widely acknowledged that defining mental disorder requires some sort of value judgment \u2013 that is, recognition that the state in question is undesirable or harmful.\u00a0 But once we bring value judgments into play concerns about social discrimination are amplified. \u00a0Might other states be wrongfully diagnosed solely because of social or political dimensions that have not yet been recognized for what they are?\u00a0 If value judgments are permitted to define disorder, do we risk repeating a history of wrongful psychiatric diagnosis?\u00a0 These questions are explored at greater length in the full paper in the JME<\/em>, available here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Rachel Bingham In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the official classification of \u2018mental disorders\u2019. \u00a0This was the result of a successful public campaign and changing political views. \u00a0Yet, if homosexuality could be (wrongly) diagnosed as a mental disorder \u2013 using an official classification \u2013 what does this say about […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2153,443,2152],"tags":[317],"class_list":["post-2732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-post","category-jme","category-mental-health","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Definition of Mental Disorder: Evolving but Dysfunctional? - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2014\/02\/12\/the-definition-of-mental-disorder-evolving-but-dysfunctional\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Definition of Mental Disorder: Evolving but Dysfunctional? 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