Synopsis

This unit explores the role of diagnosis in the treatment of mental health problems. It considers the history of our current understandings of 'mental health' and 'illness' with focus on the concepts of anxiety and depression, and looks at potential gains and losses in using diagnostic labels in counselling and pyschotherapy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Learning outcomes
1 The complexities around diagnosing mental illness
2 Current western diagnostic systems and their history
3.1 Validity and reliability
3.2 Normality and abnormality
4 The survival of diagnosis
5 Focus on ‘depression’ and ‘anxiety’
6 Losses and gains of diagnosis
7 Working without diagnosis
8 The politics of diagnosis and formulation
9 Mixed messages from psychotherapies
10 Conclusions
Further reading
Next steps
References
Acknowledgements

 

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