creators_name: Richters, John E.
creators_name: Hinshaw,  Stephen P.
editors_name: Kazdin, Alan
type: journalp
datestamp: 2000-10-15
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:24
metadata_visibility: show
title: Psychiatry's Turbid Solution
ispublished: pub
subjects: clin-psy
subjects: evol-psy
full_text_status: public
keywords: Mental Disorder, Psychopathology, Dysfunction, DSM, Classification, Evolutionary Psychology
abstract: Psychiatry?s generic concept of disorder has long served an important legitimizing function for the broad array of conditions for which individuals seek mental health treatment, regardless of their presumed causes. Wakefield?s proposal to restrict the mental disorder concept to only a subset of these conditions has given rise to concerns about the uncertain consequences of classifying others as non-disorders. In Bergner?s recent counterproposal, this concern is masked in the form of a conspicuously overinclusive definition of mental disorder. Bergner?s resistance to Wakefield?s classification objective underscores an important, unmet, and often unacknowledged need within the clinical treatment community. The challenge ahead lies in finding ways to address this need without compromising the integrity of efforts to develop a more coherent concept of mental disorder.
date: 1997
date_type: published
publication: Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice
volume: 4
pagerange: 276-280
refereed: TRUE
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citation:   Richters, John E. and Hinshaw, Stephen P.  (1997) Psychiatry's Turbid Solution.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/1015/3/s_Turbid_Solution.pdf