Letters: Psychiatry’s diagnosis bloat
Re “New look at male depression,” Aug. 29
The study on depression in men illustrates why the National Institute of Mental Health recently rejected the structural framework of the official psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as being without scientific validity. This extension of the diagnosis of depression is nothing more than describing a list of behaviors more common in men, including “risk taking” and “workaholism.”
There are a wide range of such traits that are culturally defined, and even if problematic, they may be the optimal adjustment for a given person. These are not medical conditions, as there is no biological correlates or effective treatment, much less any that are the exclusive province of the psychiatric profession.
Diagnosis bloat is rampant in the medical profession, and it would be healthy if we took a skeptical view and consider how much of this is simply one group attempting to increase its market share of struggling humanity.
Al Rodbell
Encinitas
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