Can we as psychiatrists hide behind some diagnosis and pretend that we have done everything “proper” even if the result is that the patient committed suicide. It is simply against everything that we as doctors were brought up to do: save lives.
Can we as psychiatrists hide behind some diagnosis and pretend that we have done everything “proper” even if the result is that the patient committed suicide. It is simply against everything that we as doctors were brought up to do: save lives.
But we were also brought up to speak up when things are not right.
It is not right to hide behind a diagnosis and if in doubt a second opinion from another independent psychiatrist should be sought especially if the family has already warned that the patient was suicidal.
I have covered the problem in a previous post: Psychiatry: A Floundering Discipline. It looks as though it is floundering badly.
But we were also brought up to speak up when things are not right.
It is not right to hide behind a diagnosis and if in doubt a second opinion from another independent psychiatrist should be sought especially if the family has already warned that the patient was suicidal.
I have covered the problem in a previous post: Psychiatry: A Floundering Discipline. It looks as though it is floundering badly.
What is the point of making any diagnosis if the treatment is the same.
This is an extract from the Royal College of Psychiatrist Website:
Medication
Antipsychotic drugs can reduce the suspiciousness of cluster A personality disorders (paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal). They can also help with borderline personality disorder if people feel paranoid, or are hearing noises or voices.
Antidepressants can help with the mood and emotional difficulties of people with cluster B personality disorders. Some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants can also reduce anxiety in cluster C personality disorders.
Mood stabilisers such as lithium, carbamazepine, and sodium valproate may also reduce impulsiveness and aggression.
It is not psychosis but personality disorder!!! Antipsychotic drugs, SSRIs, lithium, carbamazepine and sodium valproate: WOW: two anti-epileptics.
No wonder you do not need to be a doctor to prescribe. And if you look around, anti-psychotics are being prescribed to inmates of prisons; and a scary 46% to dementia patients in Care Homes.
Bobby Baker did not commit suicide: she had art.
In Madness and Modernity, Bobby Baker & The Peril of Diagnosis:
She did not know what was happening, but an NHS consultant psychiatrist believed he did. He told her she was suffering from borderline personality disorder, a diagnosis that angered her with its misleading implication that there was something wrong with her character and no hope of recovery. "I had not heard that term before but I was indignant. I was, in my view, distressed beyond anything I imagined it possible for a human being to be and remain alive. I replied firmly: "I beg your pardon, but speak for yourself." She feels passionately that we need to rethink the language we use to discuss mental illness.
Perhaps we really should ban some diagnosis in psychiatry. Perhaps then a few more lives would be saved.
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2 comments:
Do you mean we should ban P.D. and B.P.D.
Right on!
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