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Mental Illness or Below Average Functioning?

A William James Perspectiveby Dr Jeffrey Rubin

“Good morning, Barbara,” I say, as my first counseling case walks into my office. I notice she looks a little angry. Upon sitting down, she declares, “I’m terribly frustrated. I’ve been depressed now for over two weeks, and I just can’t shake it!” It’s easy for me to empathize because I regularly have bouts of what I refer to as melancholy. A deep anguish comes…

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Psychiatric Name Calling: What Do People Say About It?

by Dr. Jeffrey Rubin

In recent weeks, I have been providing a series of blog posts on psychiatric name calling (see here, here, here, and here).  In these posts, I have expressed some negative opinions about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM provides the names for the various mental health concerns that mental health service providers are often required to use if they want to…

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From Psychiatric Name Calling to Plain, Humane English

Many mental health service providers well know that there are serious problems with the jargon that is used in their profession.  In a recent post titled “Psychiatric Name Calling: Is It Time To Put A Stop To It?” I outline some of the most glaring ones.  In a subsequent post titled “Psychiatric Name Calling: Is There An Alternative?” I describe a plan for professionals who have…

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Psychiatric Name Calling: Is There An Alternative?

The publishers of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) currently hold a monopoly for classifying the concerns that lead people to seek mental health services. Recently on this blog, in a series of articles, I have been pointing out numerous faults of the DSM.  To check out some examples of these, see my posts titled Name Calling by Psychiatrists: Is it Time…

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Are “Mental Illnesses” Really Potentially Helpful Tools?

If your behavior, thoughts, or feelings become a concern, for a fee, many psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers are eager to translate your experiences into a language of symptoms, diagnoses, psychopathology, and mental illness. In an earlier post I provided negative criticism about this type of name-calling (see here).  Today, we focus in on an additional problem with the pathologizing approach. Psychiatric Name-Calling Simplistically Devalues…

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The Myth of Ritalin’s Effectiveness

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

In a recent post titled ADHD and Psychiatric Name Calling, I reviewed studies documenting how much is currently being spent annually on ADHD drug treatments. Here are some new numbers provided by Healthline: What are we getting for this? In this post I hope to clarify this issue. As you read it, you will see phrases in blue. By clicking on each, you will be taken…

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Crazy, Mentally Ill, and Meshuga

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

Followers of this blog seek to become experts in a branch of personal interactions referred to as name-calling. Among the words and phrases used in these interactions are “crazy,” “mentally ill,” and “meshuga.” In today’s post, I hope to weave a little narrative around their use in a manner that might take the sting out of them. The Broad Use of These Words These terms…

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Dr. Thomas Szasz and Psychiatric Name Calling

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

On this blog, one of the main topics of discussion is name calling.  And, from time to time, some people have asked me what I think of the types of names psychiatrists use to talk about their patients. In response, I wrote a post titled Name Calling by Psychiatrists: Is it Time to Put a Stop to it?  It stirred up a great deal of…

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ADHD and Psychiatric Name Calling

by Dr Jeffrey Rubin

Recently I published a post titled “Name Calling by Psychiatrists: Is it Time to Put a Stop to it?” Among the points that I had tried to make is that psychiatrists falsely claim that the names they use to describe patients are “diagnoses.” In actuality, all that they do is convert someone’s expressed concerns into medical jargon. I soon followed with a post titled “Psychiatric Name…

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Psychiatric Name Calling: Is it Helpful?

Today I offer a follow-up to my earlier post titled “Name Calling by Psychiatrists: Is it Time to Put a Stop to it?” Among the points that I had tried to make is that psychiatrists falsely claim that the names they use to describe patients are “diagnoses.”  In actuality, all that they do is convert someone’s expressed concerns into medical jargon. I received a great deal…

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