If the basic logic of the DSM is flawed, it should be abandoned. Instead, psychiatrists should move towards a system that looks at an individual’s mental experiences in context, alongside their unique developmental vulnerabilities and strengths, as the main source for analysing and responding to their distress. Diagnosis would no longer name a disorder but map what kinds of support, relationships and learning processes are most likely to help a person regain agency, coherence and a sense of future.
Worth knowing:
Article’s byline is “Jim Van Os” , and the Wikipedia article for someone of the same name is a Dutch psychologist who has a ten-year history of arguing that “schizophrenia” isnt a useful label.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_van_Os
(Of course, as far as I know they may not be the same guy, and I don’t have any reason to doubt the sincerity of his argument.)
Who cares? It’s not a useful label. That’s the point.
The whole DSM is a pseudo-scientific grift that serves capitalism, hegemony, etc., rather than producing positive results through actual science.
Look at the history of the DSM. It’s full of phony bullshit just like it is now.