Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis: How Perspectives and Politics Replace Science in Mental Health

fundamental claims of modern American psychiatry 1 are not based on well-tested research but on science that is itself a bit mad: misconceived, flawed, erroneous, misinterpreted, and often misreported.

to define something as mentally abnormal is merely to say that it deviates from the norm — that is to say, the social norm.

scientists and clinicians who make treatment possible—have made life easier for all of us who have psychiatric illnesses, whether we call ourselves mad or write letters of protest to those who do.

“neurocentrism”—the view that human experience and behavior can be best explained from the predominant or even exclusive perspective of the brain.

In spite of compelling evidence to the contrary, we continue to treat symptoms as if they are caused by a “broken brain” in which deficiencies or “imbalances” of serotonin and other neurotransmitters are regarded by modern psychiatry as sufficient explanations of mental illness.