Abstract
Medicalization is not the only way to understand problems with mental health. The current system concerning the etiology of disorders of mental health, which understands problems with adjustment as medical issues, is outdated. If it is true that our current models of mental illness and the treatments that are based on them are in part in error, then it is the obligation of science to develop better models. Although we do not pretend to be able to replace the entire system, we are prepared to offer what we believe to be an effective alternative to understanding the genesis of mental problems, the diagnostic system used to describe them, and the treatments that devolve from the system. Central to our discussion is that the concept of an illness is not required to understand the etiology of a large number of problems currently considered to represent some form of mental illness, nor to formulate effective treatment options for many of the issues that present themselves for treatment.
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Wasserman, T., Wasserman, L.D. (2016). Pathologizing Everyday Life. In: Depathologizing Psychopathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30910-1_2
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