Labelling and Psychiatric Diagnosis
Should People Be Labeled With a Psychiatric Diagnosis?
II. Thesis Statement Throughout this paper, issues will be discussed regarding the question of whether labels should be placed on the people who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness. I believe that the current methods of classifying and identifying these individuals does not have the patients bests interests in mind, partly due to the negative stigmas that come hand in hand with the label. I find that aside from the benefits that systems such as the DSM provide for a patient, it can place many negative stereotypes; compromising ones dignity as well effecting his/her family. This paper will provide arguments proving that the labels placed on oneself can be horrifically damaging to many aspects of life.
III. Historical Context When 19th century medicine had reached a point where people were discovering that different ailments require different treatments, people in the field of studying abnormal behavior began to take notice of their classification. The result was a primitive system of classifying the known abnormalities in human behavior and illness. This would help the professionals trying to diagnose and treat individuals suffering from an illness, to organize ideas. If one professional discovered an effective treatment for an illness, a universal classification would allow others to recognize the treatment for the particular illness (Davison, Neale, Blankstein, Flett, 2001). These first attempts were met with much confusion, little organization and a lot of inconsistencies. The first strong effort at a classification system that could be universally accepted was by the Statistical Committee of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, based out of the United Kingdom. Much effort was placed into the system but it could not gain the support of the members. More efforts were made in the following two decades by the Congress of Mental Science in Paris and by the Association of
II. Thesis Statement Throughout this paper, issues will be discussed regarding the question of whether labels should be placed on the people who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness. I believe that the current methods of classifying and identifying these individuals does not have the patients bests interests in mind, partly due to the negative stigmas that come hand in hand with the label. I find that aside from the benefits that systems such as the DSM provide for a patient, it can place many negative stereotypes; compromising ones dignity as well effecting his/her family. This paper will provide arguments proving that the labels placed on oneself can be horrifically damaging to many aspects of life.
III. Historical Context When 19th century medicine had reached a point where people were discovering that different ailments require different treatments, people in the field of studying abnormal behavior began to take notice of their classification. The result was a primitive system of classifying the known abnormalities in human behavior and illness. This would help the professionals trying to diagnose and treat individuals suffering from an illness, to organize ideas. If one professional discovered an effective treatment for an illness, a universal classification would allow others to recognize the treatment for the particular illness (Davison, Neale, Blankstein, Flett, 2001). These first attempts were met with much confusion, little organization and a lot of inconsistencies. The first strong effort at a classification system that could be universally accepted was by the Statistical Committee of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, based out of the United Kingdom. Much effort was placed into the system but it could not gain the support of the members. More efforts were made in the following two decades by the Congress of Mental Science in Paris and by the Association of