On the ontological assumptions of the medical model of psychiatry: philosophical considerations and pragmatic tasks.

Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM
Tejas Patil, James Giordano

Abstract

A common theme in the contemporary medical model of psychiatry is that pathophysiological processes are centrally involved in the explanation, evaluation, and treatment of mental illnesses. Implied in this perspective is that clinical descriptors of these pathophysiological processes are sufficient to distinguish underlying etiologies. Psychiatric classification requires differentiation between what counts as normality (i.e.- order), and what counts as abnormality (i.e.- disorder). The distinction(s) between normality and pathology entail assumptions that are often deeply presupposed, manifesting themselves in statements about what mental disorders are.In this paper, we explicate that realism, naturalism, reductionism, and essentialism are core ontological assumptions of the medical model of psychiatry. We argue that while naturalism, realism, and reductionism can be reconciled with advances in contemporary neuroscience, essentialism - as defined to date - may be conceptually problematic, and we pose an eidetic construct of bio-psychosocial order and disorder based upon complex systems' dynamics. However we also caution against the overuse of any theory, and claim that practical distinctions are important to the establishment o...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 11, 2010·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·James Giordano
Feb 27, 2010·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Adriano C T Rodrigues, Claudio E M Banzato
Jan 17, 2012·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Sabina AlamJames Giordano
Jul 16, 2013·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Nicola Luigi Bragazzi
May 5, 2012·Sociology of Health & Illness·Daniel Z BuchmanJudy Illes
Apr 11, 2015·BMC Medicine·Dan J Stein, James Giordano
Nov 12, 2013·Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine : PEHM·Berend Verhoeff
Aug 9, 2019·Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics : JERHRE·Sabine Wöhlke, Silke Schicktanz
Jan 28, 2017·Accountability in Research·Elise Smith, Zubin Master
Mar 5, 2017·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Miguel Kottow
May 21, 2018·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Hane Htut Maung

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