Psychiatric diagnosis: the indispensability of ambivalence

Callard, F.

doi:10.1136/medethics-2013-101763

Psychiatric diagnosis: the indispensability of ambivalence

Callard, F.

Authors

F. Callard

Abstract

The author analyses how debate over the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has tended to privilege certain conceptions of psychiatric diagnosis over others, as well as to polarise positions regarding psychiatric diagnosis. The article aims to muddy the black and white tenor of many discussions regarding psychiatric diagnosis by moving away from the preoccupation with diagnosis as classification and refocusing attention on diagnosis as a temporally and spatially complex, as well as highly mediated process. The article draws on historical, sociological and first-person perspectives regarding psychiatric diagnosis in order to emphasise the conceptual—and potentially ethical—benefits of ambivalence vis-à-vis the achievements and problems of psychiatric diagnosis.

Citation

Callard, F. (2014). Psychiatric diagnosis: the indispensability of ambivalence. Journal of Medical Ethics, 40(8), 526-530. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2013-101763

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 15, 2013
Publication Date	Aug 1, 2014
Deposit Date	Mar 6, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Jul 28, 2015
Journal	Journal of Medical Ethics
Print ISSN	0306-6800
Electronic ISSN	1473-4257
Publisher	BMJ Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	40
Issue	8
Pages	526-530
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2013-101763

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