Lecture 6 - Categorical taxonomies

Question 1

Neo-Kraepelian revolution?

Answer 1

Came up during the 60s/70s - critique on reliability of diagnosis, quality of research and the authority of psychiatrists

Pre-mediated things the the Feighner criteria and the DSM-III

Question 2

Four ways in which the DSM is still a useful tool?

Answer 2

• Common international language for mental health problems
• Make treatment possible within many social practices
• Generate hypotheses on etiology, course, prognosis and vulnerabilities
• Generate hypotheses on treatment options

Question 3

How does the DSM function as a common international language?

Answer 3

• International common understanding
• In research projects, common understanding
• Communication between mental health professions and the rest of society

Question 4

How does the DSM make treatment possible? (4)

Answer 4

• Socio-political status as a medical profession.
• Diagnosis-Treatment combination for insurance (may change)
• Clear and easy message to a patient:
• Clear and easy message to society:

Question 5

Historical dynamic presented in Hacking’s paper?

Answer 5

• History is different for each classification
• Told in different ways by different people
• Implications and consequences for individuals in mental healthcare greatly vary

Question 6

A-sentences vs B-sentences in Hacking’s paper?

Answer 6

A = realism (does it really exist- not what Hacking is concerned with)
B = dynamic nominalism (aka what Hacking is concerned with)

Question 7

Critiques against classification/DSM? + explanation (lecture)

Answer 7

• Stigma (e.g., drapetomania)
• Reïfication (concept taken as simply “existing in nature” when human choices were involved in the construction of said concept- blocks alternative perspectives)
• Commodification (reconstructed to be traded on markets- that is to say quantification to determine costs- insurance, meds, etc.)
• Essentialism (a essential essence- i.e., depression causes its symptoms)