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The rationale for the increasing emphasis on diagnosis In Overdiagnosed , H. Gilbert Welch (photo), with Lisa M. Schwartz, and Steven Woloshin, explains how the medical profession has an increasing tendency to make diagnosis which is not good for us. The rationale for more diagnosis seems good. When we diagnose more we are able to detect abnormalities, like cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc., earlier so that we can treat them earlier and prevent serious health problems. An example of this greater emphasis on diagnosis is the prevalence of disease awareness campaigns which encourage people to undergo medical screenings. Another example of increased tendency to diagnose is when doctors have patients tested for things about which they have no complaints. When are abnormalities dangerous? Although more diagnosis may sound good, according to the author it is actually, on balance, not when it leads to overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis is the detection of abnormalities w...

Barry Duncan and Scott Miller are with Marc Hubble directors of The Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change (...). These people play an important role in improving and renewing therapy. In this book, the authors explain how therapy has for too long been been neglecting, ignoring, and depersonalizing clients, by its over-emphasis on methods and techniques, by following the medical model, by its emphasis on pathology, by hegemony of biological approaches, and so on. The authors first debunk the myths of: PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS: a) it lacks reliability, b) it lacks validity, c) it puts the blame on the client, and d) it is often motivated by self-interest, fueled by greed, and blows with the winds of fashion, DRUG TREATMENT OF MENTAL PROBLEMS: a) they work no better than therapy in the short term, b) changes brought about by medication are less likely to persist over time, c) there often are severe adverse effects, d) drug studies often look better than they are because they rate im...