Chapter 7 Chapter Overview

Using OCD and PTSD as a case in point, this chapter explores the adequacy and utility of psychiatric diagnostic classifications in the conceptualization and treatment of mental illness. It highlights some of the major debates surrounding how psychiatrists classify illness, disorder, and disease. It is evident from the chapter that these debates are rooted in two key issues; the first being the reclassification of some psychiatric disorders in the diagnostic and statistical manual, and the second, the substantial variations in symptomatology that disorders like OCD tend to manifest. Much of the attention received by the latter derives from the fact that individuals with different symptom combinations could receive the same psychiatric diagnosis.

Whilst analyzing these trends within the field, the chapter also recounts the emergence of diagnostic categories such as PTSD and shell shock, noting the active role played by various social forces and actors in the labelling and categorization of psychiatric problems. Reflected in this section is the fact that the emergence, classification and treatment of disorder is not devoid of social influences.

By and large, the chapter analyses some of the contemporary contentions within the field of psychiatry and explain the problems inherent in categorizing disorders based on symptoms, rather than cause.