Overdiagnosis debate should not ignore social causes of mental illness | Letters

Dr Sebastian Kraemer ponders indifference to the developmental origins of mental disorder, Woody Caan says Labour needs a vision, while Jeremy Seymour says to not work is bad for one’s healthMental health services are overwhelmed by rising demand, evidently due to deteriorating social and economic conditions. There is little that clinicians can do about the political context, yet some of the personal injustices that patients have experienced do have a direct impact on their condition.I have been an NHS psychiatrist for 50 years and have witnessed the increasing dominance of disease classification among my colleagues. Once we know what the patient has “got”, the less interest there is in how they reached this point. As things stand, even with far greater numbers of specialists, our model of care would not be fit for purpose. (Does the UK have a mental health overdiagnosis problem?, 5 April). We have a problem with overdependence on diagnosis. Continue reading...