The Validity of Psychiatric Diagnosis: What’s in a Name?

This presentation by Dr. Descartes Li (UC San Francisco) looks at some of the complexities and controversies about psychiatric diagnoses. It examines the DSM-5's "Harmful Dysfunction" definition, contrasting it with the NIMH's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. The lecture also discusses philosophical approaches to understanding mental illness, including reductionism, cultural relativism, emergentism, and mechanistic approaches to psychiatric diagnosis. Finally, it outlines four perspectives for viewing mental disorders: disease, dimensional, behavioral, and life story, advocating for a comprehensive approach to diagnosis.

Moderator: Patrick O'Reilly, Commonwealth Club