The role of diagnosis in counselling and psychotherapy

Introduction

This unit explores how what is now termed ‘mental illness? has been understood over time, focusing especially on justifications for, and criticism of, psychiatric diagnosis. It introduces the historical emergence of a categorical approach to mental abnormality and how that approach culminated in systems of diagnosis now advocated by the American Psychiatric Association (the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ? DSM IV, 1994) and the World Health Organisation (the WHO International Classification of Diseases ? ICD10, 1992).

Problems with these systems will be illuminated using ‘common mental health problems?: the varieties of fear and sadness often diagnosed by General Practitioners in primary care services. The unit will mostly take a ‘critical? view on diagnosis, focusing on the problems that come along with labels such as ‘depression? and ‘anxiety?.

This unit is an adapted extract from The Open University course D240 Counselling: exploring fear and sadness.

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