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‘Styles of Reasoning’: The Relationship Between Aetiology, Diagnosis and Drug Treatment in the Mental Health Field
‘Styles of Reasoning’: The Relationship Between Aetiology, Diagnosis and Drug Treatment in the Mental Health Field
Monday, 11 July 2016: 16:00-17:30
Location: Hörsaal 6B P (Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG))
RC49 Mental Health and Illness (host committee) Language: English
Over the past four decades, there has been a significant increase in prescriptions for certain classes of psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants (ADs), stimulants and antipsychotics (Collin, 2014). For instance, AD use has doubled in the United States between 1996 and 2005 (Olfson and Marcus, 2009). There has also been a sharp increase in ADHD diagnosis within the last two decades, particularly among young adults (Hinshaw and Scheffler, 2014).
Moreover, contemporary prescribing of psychotropic drugs is characterized by the rise of concomitant prescribing, which is the prescribing of two or more psychotropic drugs from different classes initiated at the same time, by a single doctor; a tendency that has been particularly striking among children and teenagers. Therefore, there has been considerable debate concerning the diagnosis of ADHD, depression and anxiety, some authors denouncing the cursory manner in which it is often made.
The goal of this regular session is thus to address, through case studies as well as theoretical papers, the complex relationship between aetiology, diagnosis and drug treatment by examining prescribing practices in the mental health field. Indeed, in spite of the recent enthusiasm for the sociology of diagnosis, we argue that its study is inseparable from that of therapeutics, defined as a cognitive system as well as a set of social practices.
Session Organizer:
Chair: