School of Psychology, George Davies Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, England.
J Ment Health. 2024 Feb;33(1):57-65. doi: 10.1080/09638237.2023.2182430. Epub 2023 May 2.
Debates exist regarding the validity and utility of functional psychiatric diagnoses. How mental health diagnoses are understood has real impacts for service users and service delivery.
To investigate different attitudes about the utility of psychiatric diagnoses.
Forty-one stakeholders sorted 57 statements related to the usefulness of psychiatric diagnoses. Using q-methodology, four viewpoints were identified and interpreted.
Viewpoint 1 () regarded diagnoses as pseudo-scientific constructs that lacked validity and obscured the relationships between lived experience and distress. Viewpoint 2 () held that labels reflected real disorders and diagnosis offered important benefits for service users and services. Viewpoint 3 () similarly regarded diagnoses as reflecting real disorders, but diagnostic criteria were viewed as biased and the impacts of applying labels seen as causing problems for service users. Conversely, Viewpoint 4 () viewed diagnostic processes as imperfect but necessary for supporting communication and structuring service delivery.
While not all viewpoints are in keeping with empirical evidence, we hope results will enable professionals and service users to take meta-positions in relation to their own and others' attitudes, and to reflect on the impacts of privileging certain viewpoints over others.
关于精神科诊断的有效性和实用性存在争议。对心理健康诊断的理解对服务使用者和服务提供有实际影响。
调查对精神科诊断的实用性的不同态度。
41 名利益相关者对与精神科诊断的有用性相关的 57 个陈述进行了分类。使用 q 方法学，确定并解释了四个观点。
观点 1（）认为诊断是缺乏有效性的伪科学结构，掩盖了生活经历和痛苦之间的关系。观点 2（）认为标签反映了真实的障碍，并且诊断对服务使用者和服务提供有重要的好处。观点 3（）同样认为诊断反映了真实的障碍，但诊断标准被视为有偏见，并且标签的应用被视为给服务使用者带来问题。相反，观点 4（）认为诊断过程不完美，但对于支持沟通和构建服务提供是必要的。
虽然并非所有观点都符合经验证据，但我们希望结果能使专业人员和服务使用者能够对自己和他人的态度采取元立场，并反思优先考虑某些观点而不是其他观点的影响。
