Psychiatry’s diagnostic bible is finally getting a biological upgrade
Biology is coming to psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, even as reliable biomarkers remain rare. https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/08/psychiatrys-diagnostic-bible-is-finally-getting-a-biological-upgrade/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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@arstechnica You sure? The article is ‘DSM mindset’ slop. I can’t recall what book this image is from (I can dig around and find it if you like), but you make claims that you don’t back up, and, to the best of my knowledge, you can’t. Poor, but this is common. Journalism really needs to sort itself out on this topic. Spoiler alert: it won’t.
@arstechnica Found that book
‘A Straight Talking Introduction To The Power Threat Meaning Framework: An Alternative To Psychiatric Diagnosis’
By Mary Boyle & Lucy Johnstone
https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/a-straight-talking-introduction-to-the-power-threat-meaning-framework-an-alternative-to-psychiatric-diagnosis
A Straight Talking Introduction to the Power Threat Meaning Framework: An alternative to Psychiatric diagnosis 9781910919712
The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) was co-produced by a core group of psychologists and service users and launched in 2018, prompting considerable interest in the UK and worldwide. It argues that emotional distress, unusual experiences and many forms of troubled or troubling behaviour are understandable when viewed in the context of a person’s life and circumstances, the cultural and social norms we are expected to live up to and the degree to which we are exposed to trauma, abuse, injustice and inequality.
www.pccs-books.co.uk@arstechnica ‘…psychiatry seems unique in its shameless capacity to say whatever it wants to say, regardless of whether it has any evidence base, and then stick to it.’
‘Drop The Disorder + Do Something! Activism To Change The Culture Of Mental Health’
By Jo Watson
https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/drop-the-disorder-do-something
Drop the Disorder + Do Something! Activism to change the culture of mental health 9781915220523
The culture of psychiatric diagnosis causes harm. It labels people in distress. It silences them. It traps them. It takes away their individuality and agency. At its worst it removes their human rights. It only asks 'What's wrong with you?' and doesn't ask, 'What happened to you?' It fails to appreciate the complexity of an individual's story and the social context they exist in. This powerful follow-up to the first Drop the Disorder! book (PCCS Books, 2018) assembles a huge array of contributors who are actively challenging the culture of diagnosis and disorder. Service users and refusers, campaigners, activists, poets, playwrights, journalists and leading psychologists, counsellors, psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners write about what they have done and are doing to challenge and change the mainstream narrative around mental health and the categorisation without any scientific validity of expressions of difference and distress as 'disorders'.This book's message is 'do
www.pccs-books.co.uk@arstechnica
Image from:
‘A Straight Talking Introduction To The Causes Of Mental Health Problems (Second Edition)’
By John Read
https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/a-straight-talking-introduction-to-the-causes-of-mental-health-problems-1
A Straight Talking Introduction to the Causes of Mental Health Problems (second edition) 9781915220196
mental health problems, causes, depression, abuse, injustice, social, poverty, deprivation, stressors, individual, multiplicity of factors, mental wellbeing, wellbeing, genetic, social environment, distress, loss, trauma, violence, more understanding, understanding, research, treatment, neurochemical imbalance, hypothesis
www.pccs-books.co.uk@arstechnica In other words, if you’re going to write about stuff like this and give it the air of being comprehensive, at least try to do some worthwhile research.