BMJ 2001;322:1301 ( 26 May )

Letters

Post-traumatic stress disorder

    Disorder takes away human dignity and character
    Doctors should relieve suffering, not debate its existence
    Logic is flawed
    Social usefulness of any diagnosis needs consideration
    Accountable methods of validation are needed
    Baby should not be thrown out with bath water
    Questions about current status of psychiatric classification systems arise
    Diagnostic label is misleading
    Author's reply

Disorder takes away human dignity and character

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Encouraged by Summerfield's revelation about post-traumatic stress disorder,1 I imagined myself going to my clinic the next day and, at last, telling my patients who have post-traumatic stress disorder that their disorder is but social invention. I also thought that I would apologise, admitting that I was wrong in choosing to diagnose their problem and thereby medicalise their condition instead of seeing it as normal human suffering. Given that suffering is normal, as Summerfield says, I was also prepared to encourage my patients to be happy with having survived adversity and never again mention the word victim. It is a matter of dignity. Better be normal and suffer than have a mental disorder treated.

My daydreaming continued, and I saw myself meeting an anorectic patient, for whom I care very much, and telling her that given the social roots of her disease in ideals of feminine thinness, she . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

The invention of post-traumatic stress disorder and the social usefulness of a psychiatric category
Derek Summerfield
BMJ 2001 322: 95-98. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

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