Psychology

» redback - Designer Disorders

I think some make a career out of the categories they try to place problems in. There may be more than 10,000 different reasons say why a person may succumb to an anxiety episode. (Their underlying personality {disorder} vs the extent of the crisis..the timing/nature of the crisis) These 'overlap' in a sense so as to obscure pure cause.

But if you're seen to specialise in specific causes of anxiety, rather than the anxiety syndrome itself or can change the name of a problem to a more "palatable" one, you may attract more business.

In the context of treatment OR diagnosis: How unique is PTSD? How unique is the PTSD suffered by victims of torture in the homeland they hopefully escaped from? How unique is the person with globally poor coping skills? What if the cause of anxiety was an adverse reaction to medication or other physical cause?

There is probably more stigma attached to going to a psychiatrist than psychologist and given the differing government rebates here, I'm sure there is some conflict of interest in how they each may "ambulance chase" for want of a much better descriptor.

If you and/or your GP don't believe in say ADHD which needs a psychiatrist diagnosis here and their authority to prescribe medication but the psychologist offers counselling...I think there can be many pathways to the 'designer' status you refer to.

-- posted by redback