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Originally Posted by Sinking Feeling
I love that this thread has remained so civil! I still stand behind my opinion psychiatry tries to mimic science but it is not a true science, unless you also want to include numerology as a science too. And the DSM is the farthest thing from a science book one can get. It is politically influenced and based entirely on opinions. That it has been revised so many times and even now can not be agreed on speaks volumes on that point. Sigmond Fraud often called the Father of Psychiatry practiced dream interpretations and was convinced everything was related to our relationship with our mother. I do believe one day our knowledge and technology will eventually qualify psychiatry as a true science. But until then we are all guinea pigs 
But I do have a question for DocJohn I hope he addresses.
Would you agree it is more important to treat the symptoms of mental illness based on just the symptoms rather then based on the diagnosis which could be wrong and change often.
These diagnosis all seem related with each person simply having more traits of one then another and some having several more then others. What I mean is one can have traits from many different diagnostic illnesses. It can never be so neat and simple as to say, oh you are this or oh you are that. What we can say is you have these symptoms more then other symptoms.
I think too many people, professionals and consumers get too hung up on the diagnosis.
Just my 2 cents |
I don't think comparing it to numerology is quite fair.
Since we have to use definitions in order to communicate here is the definition of science again.
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sci·ence noun \ˈsī-ən(t)s\
: knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation
: a particular area of scientific study (such as biology, physics, or chemistry) : a particular branch of science
: a subject that is formally studied in a college, university, etc.
Full Definition of SCIENCE
1
: the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2
a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study <the science of theology>
b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge <have it down to a science>
3
a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method
b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : natural science
4
: a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws <cooking is both a science and an art>
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Wouldn't you have to call this article published in the British Journal of
Psychiatry science? I don't see how it isn't hard science, it's hard core molecular biology. It doesn't answer all the questions, but any good study or experiment answers a couple of questions and creates a hundred more questions you then have to pursue. That is how hard science has always worked. As DocJohn has stated the scientific method is used all the time in observation and experiment in both psychiatry and psychology.
Bipolar disorder: leads from the molecular and cellular mechanisms of action of mood stabilisers