Psychiatric Diagnosis Flaws

Why Multiple Psychiatric Diagnoses Reveal Limitations in Modern Mental Health Care

Many people who have experienced significant mental illness accumulate multiple diagnoses throughout their lifetimes, often resulting in multiple conditions. As a toddler, as a child, as well as being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D). In my 20s, the diagnosis was cocaine and heroin use disorder, which led to a stint in rehab. Later, as an adult, I was diagnosed with bipolar, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This high prevalence of overlapping diagnoses in mental health care suggests that the labels assigned using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders often do not define distinct, specific pathologies. Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, analogizes psychiatric diagnosis to diagnosing someone with chest pain disorder, whether it is caused by a heart attack or heartburn.

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