Tag: psychiatry and language
The Problem Lies in the Term āMental Illnessā
Shouting out āI am mentally ill and I am not dangerousā creates the same incomprehension as blaming āmental illnessā in the first place. This would be a perfect opportunity for all those people diagnosed with āmental illnessā to stand up and say loud and clear: āIt isnāt mental and it isnāt an illness.ā
To Warn or Not to Warn? A Critique of MIA’s Use...
I have concerns about howĀ Mad In AmericaĀ deals with diagnostic terminology. When psychiatric diagnoses are used without signaling that they are constructs and unscientific, I feel alarmed for those who will be strengthened in their mistaken beliefs about the labels.Ā
Psychiatry, Society and Stigma: Placing the Blame Where It Belongs
I believe that those who understand psychiatryās self-serving claims and want to be most effective in a campaign of re-education must never lose sight of the critical role of language in the forming of public opinion. Here I will use the example of stigma to illustrate psychiatry's āWar of the Words.ā
The Language of Internalized Oppression
I realize many folks get irritated by the āmoving targetā of language, but understand that this is a process of unlearning for us all. Itās not so much that the words randomly keep changing as it is that the oppression embedded in our words and ways of being runs deeper than most of us could have ever imagined. Unraveling it all is a long way off.
Psychiatry After Postmodernism
āIf language is inherently unstable, then how can we hope to diagnose illness accurately?ā asks psychiatrist Mark Salter in an article for iai news. āNaming things, abstract or concrete, is a form of categorization,ā but, he adds, āit is important to remember that our categories say more about the categorizer than the categorized.ā