Week 6 - Kaitlin Zheng

Kaitlin Zheng

Sec A03

Week 6

In the article called “Pathologizing Everyday Life,” it sheds light to the dangers of the implications the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual has on diagnoses of mental illnesses. Since the DSM lists certain traits and criteria that deems an individual as fit for having a certain mental illness, these certain traits can also be caused by events in everyday life, as McNally writes in What is Mental Illness? Although the manual provides a clear and defined standard to what the mental illness can be for psychologists and doctors, it is highly possible that these criteria can overlap with characteristics of mental stressors in daily life. Behind the unintentional nature of this is the economically motivated “disease mongering” in which it is “the practice of incessantly widening the diagnostic boundaries of illnesses and encouraging public awareness of these new diseases.” The intent of this is the help the pharmacy market expand their audience and sell more treatments. The dangers of misdiagnosing mental illnesses has led to an increase of mental disorders across America, bumping up the number of those who fit the DSM criteria to 46% of adults. This highlights the fact that there are many that struggle with everyday problems and while it is difficult and mentally exhausting, it indicates that not all these problems need to be treated medically. While nearly half of the American adult population faces the possibility of having a mental illness, we do not know for sure whether these diagnoses are deemed due to environmental stressors or if they are simply caused by distress in everyday events. This blurs the line of whether or not how accurate the DSM can be in clarifying mental disorders. It also brings up the question of whether mental disorders are caused by a multitude of things compared to just being a physiological defect. 

In what ways can misdiagnosing a mental illness be adverse for an individual?

References:

1. Wasserman, Theodore (2016, July 15). Pathologizing Everyday Life. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
2. Anderson, Mark. (2010). [Digital Image]. Retrieved October 28, 2017, from https://www.andertoons.com/therapy/cartoon/5110/id-like-less-of-an-emotional-roller-coaster-and-more-of-teacup-ride