Psychologist logo
Year 2000 graphic
Clinical, Legal, criminological and forensic

Psychiatric diagnosis: More questions than answers

David Pilgrim argues that recent Society guidance on the use of diagnostic classifications in court misses the point.

18 June 2000

Diagnosis is a medical task that creates a simple dichotomy between the sick and the well. By contrast, psychological formulations assume a continuity between the normal and the abnormal. The psychiatric question 'Is this person suffering from a mental disorder or not?' becomes transformed by a psychologist into 'How do we account for this person's actions and experience in this particular context?'.

Download PDF for article.