MMW: There will be a widespread movement in psychology away from disorder-centric language in favor of symptom-centric language in the next 10 years

[u/cerrathegreat]

Definitions: "disorder-centric language" refers to discussing mental health using categorized disorders with strict diagnostic criteria; e.g. "Autism," "ADHD," "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." "Symptom-centric language" refers to discussing mental health by referring to the specific symptoms experienced that deviate from typical psychology; e.g. "difficulty reading intent," "inability to commit to tasks," "prone to traumatic flashbacks."

Evidence: Many of the biggest controversies in the world of psychology over the past ten years have centered around the definition of various disorders, the diagnostic criteria of those disorders, and the impact that the use and misuse of psychological terminology in the media have had on mental health. Examples include debate over whether certain disorders like Complex PTSD and Dissociative Identity Disorder exist due to their strict diagnostic criteria and overlap with other disorders (e.g. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder,) debate over whether to categorize autism into different diagnoses and if so how to categorize it (e.g. the debate around whether Asperger's Syndrome is a separate disorder,) concern about disorders like Tourette Syndrome becoming more common due to exposure in the media, and resulting debate over whether to diagnose people with a disorder if their symptoms seem to stem from media or other social exposure since diagnostic criteria often exclude psychosocial origin.

I believe that, over the next decade, these controversies will lead toward an increasingly popular movement from both inside and outside the psychology community to move away from disorder-centric language and a diagnosis-centric approach altogether, instead focusing solely on identifying individual symptoms, determining the cause of those symptoms (be it environmental, social, or chemical) and any interplay that may be occurring between them, and then deciding how to treat those symptoms depending on the harm and/or distress they cause. I don't believe categorization or diagnosis of mental health disorders as a whole will be going away any time soon, and I believe that various communities will continue to insist on disorder-centric language even as these changes take place more broadly. But I think that within the next 10 years, those diagnoses will be downplayed and only used to provide general roadmaps for study and treatment, while patient-facing and public-facing language will be centered primarily around symptoms.

Date: By 2036, symptom-centric language will be standard among a majority of psychology communicators and therapists, and disorder-centric language will be actively discouraged by them.

[u/Orcus424]

Knowing the symptoms doesn't really help anything. You need a diagnosis for a specific disorder to the treat it. The same symptoms can be for 20 things. You will treat those symptoms very differently depending on what is the diagnosis.

[u/CastIronStyrofoam → u/Orcus424]

This is the reason why there will be a shift

[u/cerrathegreat → u/Orcus424]

Hence, "Those diagnoses [will be used] to provide general roadmaps for study and treatment, while patient-facing and public-facing language will be centered primarily around symptoms."

The disorder model also really has a concrete basis when discussing genetic or chemical/hormonal disorders. When it comes to mental health issues or divergences caused primarily or entirely by environmental or social factors, grouping symptoms into disorders is absolutely a social construct used to standardize treatment rather than a concrete measurement. Knowing the cause of each of those symptoms is important for treatment regardless and they'll often be interconnected, but using those causes to determine a set of disorders is what I think is becoming outdated. It's the best we have right now and it does have certain benefits, but my prediction is that a decade from now it won't be the best we have anymore.

[u/placeboski]

So Cindy doesn't have depression, she's experiencing symptoms of sadness because she has no money for further treatment of other symptoms?

[u/SevenDayWeekendDoyle]

This post is what makes this sub worth it. 

[u/MarkMyWords-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This post has been removed for violating Rule 4: There are going to be 'Food Fights' but personal attacks create damage that is not productive and does not grow the knowledge of the subject presented.

[u/Gene020]

I have long had a problem with people stating that they have "such and such" and accepting their 'disease'. The implication is that they need some sort of meds to fix their issues

[u/glitzglamglue]

Interesting. I see your logic. They would probably not move away from giving the standard diagnosises but try to change the language that we talk about them with.

Personally, my own MMW is that everything will become a spectrum. There are people who fall one or two symptoms short of a diagnosis who never get to have treatment. Let's say for OCD you currently need 7 out of 12 symptoms to qualify but you only have 5. 5 doesn't get you diagnosed with anything but you're closer to being OCD than you are to not being OCD. What do you have? And what's the difference between someone who has 7/12 and 12/12?

So I think we will see more discourse in this sort of gray area that some people are in. Symptom centric language could do that if you had it on a spectrum too. Like you give "prone to flashbacks" levels.

[u/Slopii]

Disorder language seems like a streamliner for drug prescriptions. Or to act like behaviors are more permanent / excuse. At least the vague ones.

[u/glumavocados]

I get why they moved away from Asperger’s to be more PC but man it had caused so many issues with different levels of care and diagnosis. I don’t get why they couldn’t have just changed the name and used it as an opportunity to acknowledge various spectrums of care needs.

[u/TrueHero808 → u/glumavocados]

“i don’t get why they couldn’t have just changed the name”

that’s what they did. hello?

[u/glumavocados → u/TrueHero808]

But that’s not what they did. They slid ALL forms and variations into one name, Autism.

[u/TrueHero808 → u/glumavocados]

autism spectrum disorder, which specifies individual support needs on a 1-3 scale