Antirealism Will Not Save the DSM From Empirical Inadequacy
The same is true for any assumption that holds the mind or its pathologies to be inexplicable in some fundamental sense: it can only lead to extremely bad explanations. We have no choice but to treat mental illness as unknown but knowable .
Awais Aftab • On the Ignorance of Psychiatry and the Ignorance of Critics
nico kokonas added
Szaszians hold on to a fantasy where an objective definition of “disorder” not only exists, but it also successfully covers recognized disorders in general medicine while conveniently excluding mental illnesses as faux-disorders. Szaszians also commit themselves to some version of the idea that medical authority only applies to genuine disorders, a... See more
Reviewing Paul Bloom on Psychopathology
nico kokonas added
Some therapists have an overly reductive understanding of psychiatric diagnosis. They seem to think a diagnosis of mental disorder necessarily implies there is some intrinsic brain abnormality. They think if someone’s symptoms can be explained with reference to a history of abuse or trauma, then a diagnosis doesn’t apply to them. The logic is so in
Notable Links & Miscellanea - April 20, 2024
nico kokonas added
nowhere.” It is the conviction that in order to describe the world accurately and empirically, we must put aside res cogitans—the subjective, immediate way in which we experience the world in our minds—and limit ourselves to res extensa, the objective, mathematical language of physical facts. Without these distinctions, it’s difficult to imagine th
... See moreMeghan O'Gieblyn • God, Human, Animal, Machine_ Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning - Meghan O'Gieblyn
Alex Dobrenko and added
To make this concrete, here are the failure-modes of a few popular psychospiritual modalities that I love:
• IFS: you go looking for problematic parts, so the mind starts creating & reifying ones that explain your problems
• Somatic experiencing: you look for trauma in the body, mind starts generating or regenerating uncomfortable tensions/pains/se... See more
When a particular scientific method becomes a metaphysics, and when that metaphysics masquerades as empirical rigor, it becomes exceedingly difficult to identify the real demarcations between genuine discoveries and arbitrary interpretations.
David Bentley Hart • The Experience of God
Stuart Evans added