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41 - Psychiatric Discourse: Scientific Reductionism for the Autonomous Person

from Section 14

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2020

By
Stephan Heckers
Edited by
Kenneth S. Kendler ,
Josef Parnas  and
Peter Zachar
Kenneth S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Virginia Commonwealth University
Josef Parnas
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Peter Zachar
Affiliation:
Auburn University, Montgomery
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Summary

Scientific reductionism is necessary for progress in psychiatry. The psychiatric clinician reduces complex mental states and behaviors into diagnosis and formulation before considering the need for and the modality of treatment. The psychiatric researcher explains human behavior with mechanistic models of disease progression and outcome. The resulting psychiatric discourse is confusing, with competing explanatory models, terminologies, and treatment philosophies. Here I will develop the idea that hypothesis testing in psychiatry is shaped by two questions: 1) How strongly can we reduce mental states and behavior? and 2) How much does the person seek and require treatment?If answers to these questions are aligned, it facilitates research and preserves autonomy. Misalignment impedes scientific progress and leads to wasteful debates. Psychiatry needs to balance scientific reductionism with respect of agency and self-efficacy.

Keywords

psychopathologypsychiatric interviewpsychiatric diagnosisnosologypsychiatric researchneuroscienceshared decision makingagency
Type
Chapter
Information
Levels of Analysis in Psychopathology
Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives
 , pp. 495 - 509
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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