The Dilemma of Diagnosis

The dilemma that many mental health professionals now face is that much of the field has not caught up with the most recent research. This means that our diagnostic tools are outdated. Yet, if clients want to use their health insurance, providers must assign a diagnosis. The outdated thought is that our bodies and our minds are separate and that mental illness originates in the mind. Along this thinking, is that 'cures' are aimed at changing thoughts or 'illness.' 

Current research in many fields (psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, immunology, neuroscience, cellular biology), continues to prove there is a mind/body connection and other fields such as sociology and post modern theories also note that people have lives of intersectionality. What this means is that our inner lives intersect with each other, and also with our 'outer' lives to create different meanings and constructs that affect our health and well-being. 

One example of this might be the tension that a person who is not part of the dominant culture feels on a day to day basis (racial profiling). This person is not creating the tension, circumstances are intersecting with how this person is dealing with the challenge of feeling safe. Another example that I often see is that a person really doesn't have words for their inner experiences or emotions. I work with both individuals and couples to express this inner world of emotions, which produces radical change quickly.

In my practice, if a person chooses to use insurance, I work collaboratively with them to provide the mental health diagnosis that best fits their appraisal of their situation, with the understanding that the model we are working with is part of a historical paradigm. I work holistically, basing my understanding of people on the most recent research available. Step into the future with me. 

Drawing of neurons by neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1899).