Disability, Depression, Diagnosis, and Harm: Reflections on Two Personal Scenarios

In this article I draw on two scenarios from my personal life—the diagnosis of my newborn grandnephew with CHARGE syndrome and the diagnosis of my father with depression—to reflect on whether and when diagnosis may be harmful to patients (and their families). Despite the great differences between th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of medical humanities Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 239 - 251
Main Author Couser, G. Thomas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.06.2019
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
CHARGE Syndrome - diagnosis
Cultural and Media Studies
Depression - diagnosis
Disabled Persons - psychology
Fathers - psychology
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Literature
Mothers - psychology
Regional and Cultural Studies
Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
Truth Disclosure
Disability
Diagnosis
Iatrogenic harm
Mental illness
Disability studies
DSM
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Summary:In this article I draw on two scenarios from my personal life—the diagnosis of my newborn grandnephew with CHARGE syndrome and the diagnosis of my father with depression—to reflect on whether and when diagnosis may be harmful to patients (and their families). Despite the great differences between the two scenarios, I argue that in both cases the tendency of diagnosis to generalize, categorize, and stigmatize can lead to insidious and counterproductive effects. The perspective of disability studies can help physicians to anticipate, minimize or avoid these negative ramifications. I also reflect on the matter of who "owns" a particular diagnosis, whose purposes it serves, and how.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Memoir/Personal Document-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
content type line 23
ISSN:1041-3545
1573-3645
DOI:10.1007/s10912-016-9420-6