Diagnosis as dialogue: historical and current perspectives

Abstract

Ever since psychiatry emerged as a clinical discipline and field of scientific inquiry in the late 18th century, debates about diagnosis have been at its very heart. Considered by many a requirement for clinical communication as well as for systematic study, others have critiqued psychiatric diagnosis for being modeled on a medical conception of disease that is ill-suited to the specific nature of mental disorders. Based on a review of seminal positions in the conceptual history of psychiatry and an examination of their epistemological underpinnings, we propose to consider diagnosis as dialogue. Such understanding, we argue, can serve as a meta-framework that provides a conceptual and practical umbrella to encourage open-minded conversation across the diverse conceptual and experiential frameworks that are characteristic of psychiatry. In this perspective psychopathology will also reinforce the interpersonal realm as a necessary element of any clinical encounter, be it diagnostic in purpose or otherwise. Current challenges to traditional diagnostic systems like Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) are discussed in light of these considerations.