Almost all diagnoses mask the role of trauma and adverse events

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708131152.htm

The study, led by researchers from the University of Liverpool, involved a detailed analysis of five key chapters of the latest edition of the widely

used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), on 'schizophrenia', 'bipolar disorder', 'depressive disorders', 'anxiety disorders' and 'trauma-related disorders'.

Professor Peter Kinderman, University of Liverpool, said:

"This study provides yet more evidence that the biomedical diagnostic approach in psychiatry is not fit for purpose.

Diagnoses frequently and uncritically reported as 'real illnesses' are in fact made on the basis of internally inconsistent, confused and contradictory patterns of largely arbitrary criteria.

The diagnostic system wrongly assumes that all distress results from disorder, and relies heavily on subjective judgments about what is normal."

Professor John Read, University of East London, said:

"Perhaps it is time we stopped pretending that medical-sounding labels contribute anything to our understanding of the complex causes of human distress

or of what kind of help we need when distressed."