Welcome to From Insults to Respect. The two dominant manuals for “diagnosing mental disorders” are the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases. (ICD). Their overarching concept is mental disorders. Synonyms are psychopathology, and mental illness. To access mental health services, most people are required to accept being labelled as having a mental illness. Not everyone respects this…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, we take a look at the question, Can psychologists come up with a kinder, more respectful, healthier approach for dealing with the types of concerns people seek mental health services? The current approach, often referred to as the “medical model” or the “mental disorder model,” is promoted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the World Health Organization (WHO)…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In a recent post, I shared some of my views about the pros and cons of the mental illness concept. I’m retired now, but derived my way of looking at these issues when I was employed in various settings as a PhD level psychologist. During my career, I often interacted with people who, upon accessing mental health services, came…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Perhaps some of you who have joined us here today have begun to notice that many in the media have begun to replace using the words “mentally ill,” “mental disorder,” or “psychopathology,” with words like, “a person with a mental health concern,” “mental health issue,” “mental health challenge,” or “mental health problem.” This change is viewed by some as more…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Last week, I presented a post titled, “Mental Illness as Distress, Abnormality, and Dysfunction.” There, I explained that it is actually normal in our society to have periods during which we become concerned that we are too distressed, or too dissatisfied with our level of functioning. The pharmaceutical companies, I noted, promote that these concerns are mental disorders and…
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. In our society, many assume psychiatrist can accurately diagnose mental illness, also referred to as mental disorder or psychopathology. Why do they? Sometimes we respect what a group of people do because of their association with something we highly value. Thus, in a commercial, we might see people purchasing a particular brand of car with a highly respected athlete,…
A Discussion of a Research Article About this Topic
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. A couple of years ago I wrote a post titled, “Am I Bad For Being Sad?” There I discussed the tendency in our society to promote the notion that when we experience sadness it is a symptom indicating there is something wrong with us. I then asked readers to consider the possibility that this notion may be disrespectful and harmful,…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we take a close look at one reason some folks have a low level of respect for people who are viewed as having a mental illness–the belief that such people are avoiding responsibilities. There are two other main reasons for the stigma associated with being labelled mentally ill that we won’t dive into today, but I’ll just briefly mention….
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. I’m Dr. Jeffrey Rubin. Typically, here on this blog I aim to write posts that suggest how we might deal with various intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts in a manner that will enhance the respect that we have for ourselves, and others have for us. But today we will look at a set of circumstances that is a bit more complicated….
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. On this blog, from time to time, we have been discussing depression. To help us better understand this deeply troubling experience, we have looked at the biographies of several individuals who, despite their mighty struggles with depression, still managed to earn the respect of millions. Today, we quickly review three of these biographies, that of the brilliant psychologist and philosopher William…
