Mood Swings

A Psychiatrist Surveys the Mind and the Wider World

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH is director of the mood disorders and psychopharmacology programs in the department of psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. See full bio

February 16, 2009, Evolutionary Psychology

Comments on "Darwinian psychiatry: The loss of essence"

Darwinian psychiatry: The loss of essence

By Dr. Nassir Ghaemi on February 16, 2009 in Mood Swings

Of the many cultural implications of Darwinism one of the least recognized is its conceptual core, which is this: There is no essence to anything. Read More

Consistent

Submitted by david Petropoulos on February 17, 2009 - 1:27pm.

I find mental illness oddly consistent. Example: Sensitivity rejection , low self esteem, Anxiety. The only thing that evolves is how each depressive hides it in accordance with their level of brain damage. Also of course how society allows the depressive to express it. Sorry you had to hear from me again-ha! Sincerely-David

Spectrum

Submitted by Mohammad Alsuwaidan on February 17, 2009 - 2:09pm.

Actually in practice I find mental illness quite inconsisent i.e. it does not fit into rigid categorical constructs. Conceptualizing mental illness in spectrums or gradients is much more helpful both clinically and at an individual level. Consider the multitude varieties in which depression presents with different subtypes, severity, cyclicity and polarity. In that sense the argument of anti-essentialism is an interesting paradigm that allows us to move forward.

reply

Submitted by Nassir Ghaemi on February 18, 2009 - 8:17am.

Thank you Mohammad

Often we hear that categorical diagnoses are used in research, and supported by it best, while spectrum models are used by clinicians, and relate to clinical practice. In fact, the biology of illness, based on anti-essentialism, provides a rationale for spectrum models.