Lecture 3: Categorical Taxonomies

Question 1

What was Emil Kraepelin’s most important contribution

Answer 1

He had a huge influence on the categorical taxonomy and he asked the questions; which mental disorders are there and which disorder causes the symptoms

Question 2

What was the question that Freud asked

Answer 2

Of which unconscious fantasies, drives and conflicts are these symptoms an expression and compromise

Question 3

What question did skinner ask

Answer 3

How have these symptoms been shaped through conditioning

Question 4

T/F: the DSM 1 was highly influenced by psychodynamic

Answer 4

True

Question 5

What movement in psych characterized the 50’s

Answer 5

Humanistic and existentialist approaches

Question 6

What movement in psych characterized the 60’s/70’s

Answer 6

Antipsychiatric; critique on reliability of diagnosis, quality of research and the authority of psychiatrists

Question 7

What are the 4 core ideas of Hacking’s essay

Answer 7

1. Making up people; science and scientific concepts can create people that didn’t exist before
2. Moving targets; investigations and diagnoses interact with the people and change them, the people don’t stand still
3. Looping effects; the diagnosis interacts with the person, the person changes, since they’re changed, they’re not the same kind of person anymore, the target has moved, this also then influences the diagnosis again
4. Transient mental illness

Question 8

What is the distinction between realism and dynamic nominalism and what kind of sentences are they related to

Answer 8

Realism; does the disorder really exist? —> A-sentences
Dynamic nominalism; what happens after a classifications has first been proposed? How does it affect the people classified? How do theses people in turn affect the classification —> B-sentences

Question 9

What are the 10 engines of making up people

Answer 9

1. Counting
2. Quantity
3. Norms
4. Correlation
5. Medicalise (clinical medicine)
6. Biologise (biology)
7. Geneticise (genetics)
   —> the above are designed for discovery
8. Normalization —> engine of practice
9. Bureaucratise (bureaucracy) —> engine of administration
10. Reclaim identity (resistance) —> resistance to the knowers

Question 10

What are 5 critical issues raised against the DSM and explain

Answer 10

1. Stigma = an attribute that is deeply discrediting; diagnoses may bring certain negative biases/stigmas with them
2. Reification = a created concept is so often named and discussed that we take it simply as a thing that exists in nature, the danger is that we tend to forget the human choices that were involved in the construction of our constructs —> may easily block our options and imaginations of alternative perspectives
3. Commodification = something is reconstructed in such a way that it can be traded in markets, one should be able to clearly generalize and compare —> necessary to determine prices (meds, insurance, etc)
4. Dominant attributions = syndromes come with certain attributions that may not always be interpreted correctly and may also lead to alternative attributions becoming less likely
5. Lack of context, meaning, personalized narrative and hope

Question 11

What are 4 ways in which the DSM can be seen as a useful tool

Answer 11

1. Provide a common international language for mental health problems
2. Make treatment possible within current social practices
3. Generate hypotheses on etiology, course, prognosis and vulnerabilities
4. Generate hypotheses on treatment options