Diagnostic dilemmas in child and adolescent psychiatry : philosophical perspectives

289 Pages·2014·1.62 MB·English

by  Perring

Diagnostic Dilemmas in Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry
International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry
Series editors: Bill (K.W.M.) Fulford, Katherine Morris, John Z. Sadler,
and Giovanni Stanghellini
Volumes in the series:
Portrait of the Psychiatrist as a Young Man: The Body-Subjects and Disordered Minds
Early Writing and Work of R.D. Laing, 1927–1960 Matthews
Beveridge Rationality and Compulsion: Applying action
Mind, Meaning, and Mental Disorder 2e theory to psychiatry
Bolton and Hill Nordenfelt
What is Mental Disorder? Diagnostic Dilemmas in Child and Adolescent
Bolton Psychiatry
Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs Perring and Wells (eds.)
Bortolotti Philosophical Perspectives on Technology and
Postpsychiatry Psychiatry
Bracken and Thomas Phillips (ed.)
Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and the The Metaphor of Mental Illness
A-Rational Mind Pickering
Brakel Mapping the Edges and the In-between
Unconscious Knowing and Other Essays in Potter
Psycho-Philosophical Analysis Trauma, Truth, and Reconciliation: Healing
Brakel Damaged Relationships
Psychiatry as Cognitive Neuroscience Potter (ed.)
Broome and Bortolotti (eds.) The Philosophy of Psychiatry: A Companion
Free Will and Responsibility: A Guide for Radden
Practitioners The Virtuous Psychiatrist
Callender Radden and Sadler
Reconceiving Schizophrenia Addiction and Weakness of Will
Chung, Fulford, and Graham (eds.) Radoilska
Darwin and Psychiatry Autonomy and Mental Disorder
De Block and Adriaens (eds.) Radoilska (ed.)
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry Feelings of Being
Fulford, Davies, Gipps, Graham, Sadler, Ratcliffe
Stanghellini, and Thornton (eds.) Recovery of People with Mental
Nature and Narrative: An Introduction to the Illness: Philosophical and Related Perspectives
New Philosophy of Psychiatry Rudnick (ed.)
Fulford, Morris, Sadler, and Stanghellini (eds.) Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis
Oxford Textbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry Sadler
Fulford, Thornton, and Graham (eds.) Disembodied Spirits and Deanimated Bodies: The
The Mind and its Discontents Psychopathology of Common Sense
Gillett Stanghellini
Thinking Through Dementia One Century of Karl Jaspers’ General
Hughes Psychopathology
Dementia: Mind, Meaning, and the Person Stanghellini and Fuchs (eds.)
Hughes, Louw, and Sabat (eds.) Emotions and Personhood
Talking Cures and Placebo Effects Stanghellini and Rosfort
Jopling Essential Philosophy of Psychiatry
Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry II: Nosology Thornton
Kenneth S. Kendler and Josef Parnas Empirical Ethics in Psychiatry
Discursive Perspectives in Therapeutic Practice Widdershoven, McMillan, Hope, and Van der
Lock and Strong (eds.) Scheer (eds.)
Schizophrenia and the Fate of the Self The Sublime Object of Psychiatry: Schizophrenia
Lysaker and Lysaker in Clinical and Cultural Theory
Woods
Responsibility and Psychopathy
Malatesti and McMillan
Diagnostic
Dilemmas in Child
and Adolescent
Psychiatry
Philosophical Perspectives
Edited by
Christian Perring and Lloyd A. Wells
1
3

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Oxford University Press 2014
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First Edition published in 2014
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014930237
ISBN 978–0–19–964575–6
Printed and bound by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
Oxford University press makes no representation, express or implied, that the
drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check
the product information and clinical procedures with the most up-to-date
published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers
and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and
the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the
text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where
otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant
adult who is not breast-feeding
I dedicate my work in this book to the memory of my father,
Wyndham Perring, and to my mother, Odile Whicheloe.
Christian Perring
My portion of this book is dedicated to the memory of David
A. Mrazek, who had a vision about the future of psychiatric diagnosis
which we discussed over several years. He was the best colleague,
friend, and mentor.
Lloyd A. Wells

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dowling College for supporting this research.
Christian Perring
I would like to acknowledge the incredible patience of Denise M. Wells during
the writing and editing of this book. Her comments on it have been wise and
helpful.
Lloyd A. Wells
We are greatly in debt to Charlotte Green of Oxford University Press, who
has been available daily regarding this book and has been a source of great
assistance.
Christian Perring and Lloyd A. Wells

Preface: Conceptual,
Methodological, and Ethical
Issues in Categorizing and
Diagnosing Child and Adolescent
Mental Disorders
Christian Perring
The philosophical study of psychiatry has made great advances since it started
to be widely studied and practiced by philosophers, psychiatrists, and other
mental health professionals. It has many strands, and these include not only
philosophical debates in science and metaphysics, such as the scientific status
of the study of the mind, and the relationship between the mind and the body,
but also normative debates, such as the duties of a physician to a patient, when
a patient is autonomous, and what counts as sanity. The debates have been
rich, involving many different perspectives and philosophical methodologies.
While there is rarely consensus on particular issues, the vigor and depth of the
debates are clear indicators of how important they are. The enthusiasm with
which excellent philosophical work has been done shows that the topics are
not just socially important but also intellectually rewarding.
Up to now, child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) has played a relatively small
role in this endeavor. There are no other collections specifically on philosophi-
cal issues in CAP. A search of the bibliographic database “The Philosopher's
Index” for “psychiatry” and “children” turns up few results. A search of the
journal Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology for “children” shows that while
children are mentioned in many papers, very few of these are directly about
the mental disorders of children. This is not surprising, for many reasons. CAP
has a reputation for being more practically oriented and with less tradition
of discussion of theoretical issues (although it may be hard to provide clear
evidence of this from examination of the psychiatric literature). Related to this
is the fact that CAP is still a relatively new part of psychiatry, as El-Gabalawi
(Chapter 2, this volume) shows. The American Academy of Child Adolescent
Psychiatry was formed in 1953, while the roots of the American Psychiatric