Mental illness rates have increased do to adjustment in definition rather than increased distress
Human nature is stable and resilient. The threshold for diagnosing mental disorders are somewhat arbitrary and can be adjusted, so there has been no real epidemic of mental illness, just a much looser definition of sickness, making it harder for people to be considered well. The people remain the same; the diagnostic labels have changed and are too elastic. Problems that used to be an expected and tolerated part of life are now diagnosed and treated as mental disorder. The application, or withholding, of a sickness label in these boundary situations determines how we see ourselves as individuals and as a society. If we create an overly broad definition and apply it liberally, we readily recruit an army of new “patients,” many of whom will have been much better left to their own devices. We are not a sicker society in any real sense—even if we see ourselves that way.
References
- Frances, Allen. (2013). Saving Normal CHAPTER 3. Diagnostic Inflation (p. ). New York, NY: HarperCollins.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Psychiatry Status:☀️