Evaluating Psychiatric Labels: Assistance or Hindrance to Care?

This essay provides a critical review of the use of psychiatric diagnostic labels in mental healthcare, examining their impact on healthcare professionals and patient care. While diagnostic labels are intended to assist clinicians and researchers by creating defined boundaries and suggesting effective interventions, they also carry negative consequences such as stigmatization, the development of stereotypes, and a focus on diagnosis rather than the individual. The essay explores how these labels can lead to discrimination, reduced treatment effectiveness, and challenges in accessing care services, particularly for patients with conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It also addresses the limitations of diagnostic frameworks like the DSM. The essay concludes by advocating for a shift towards biopsycho-social assessments that improve treatment efficacy, reduce stigma, and promote better clinical judgments, emphasizing the need for mental health practitioners to be skilled, professional, and aware of the potential negative impacts of diagnostic labeling.

University
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Task
Critical review study
Psychiatric diagnostic labels do not assist health professionals to help patients
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Psychiatric Diagnostic Labels Do Not Assist Health Professionals to Help Patients
Modern psychiatry has navigated important advances with regard to meeting the needs
of Psychiatric distress patients. A variety of pharmacotherapy’s and psychotherapies have
been laid down to manage and understand these distressing symptoms. Despite these
achievements psychiatry theory and practice have at times reach an impasse. Prevention has
proven to be elusive, with Psychiatric health disease being more common. The diagnoses
propose through diagnostic models and practices such as diagnostic labeling have not been
yet linked to any sort of proved psychosocial or biological markers. Reliability in making a
diagnosis has improved in the research arena, but practically it has proven to be a challenge.
The concept of using diagnostic labels in mental care health has been widely used norm
of practice. Healthcare professional often assigns labels to patients to allow treatment and
research process take place. This essay outlines how diagnostic labels have been widely been
used in the mental care filed and analyses its usefulness in the overall health prognosis of the
patients. Diagnostic labels have both positive and negative cons, however, this report outlines
the negative impacts of the labels towards services offered by Psychiatric health care
professionals in offering care to patients. Further, assessment on its effects towards health
professionals has been sought, with regard to challenges facing them in their practice utilizing
diagnostic labels.
The diagnostic concept of labeling in Psychiatric health
Diagnostic labels have often been used to assist the clinicians and researchers in
Psychiatric health to assume homogeneity under the underlying medical states irrespective of
whether they have variability in terms of the symptoms. More clearly, diagnostic labels help
to distinguish the patients through set defined boundaries, (American Psychiatric
Association,2000). According to Widiger, Frances, Pincus, Davis& First (1990), three
decades ago, they showed that diagnostic labeling was a convenient way of describing the
patients which include their symptoms and the expected diagnosing steps. Further, Corrigan,
(2007), indicated that diagnostic labels suggest an effective etiology and point towards
specific interventions which are crucial in preventing further consequences of the disease.
Moreover, Psychiatric illness patients labeling, have often been regarded to be
beneficial, as they enhance special protection for the patients. Patients with labeling tags
often have preferential treatments at the health care facilities compared to other Psychiatric
patients. Research findings undertaken have shown that accurate labeling of Psychiatric
health may decrease the treatment delay among the young people, (Thompson, Issakidis &

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Hunt, 2008), and further enhances the accurateness of diagnosing and offering right treatment
present in health care services, (Haller, Sanci, Samyer & Patton, 2009). Furthermore, studies
undertaken by Wright& Jorm (2009), have indicated that labeling of Psychiatric health is
associated with increased preferences of seeking help from the professional practitioner.
Impacts of Psychiatric Diagnostic Labels
Despite these commendable contributions of Psychiatric health patients labeling, effects
have been shown to impact some negative consequence son healthcare provision. Diagnosing
patients having mental health labels describing their mental state has been shown to have
negative impacts on the professionals working with them. This has been shown to have less
effective treatment being delivered. The previous beliefs have outlaid that psychiatric
diagnosis is often stigmatized and lead to negative evaluations from the external
environment. Previous work practices have for a long time assumed that those working in
Psychiatric health care are often immune to such beliefs. However, latest research findings
published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology and Clinical behavior have suggested that
these patients risk stigmatization within the wider society and in between the health care
professionals, (Lam, Salkovaksi & Hogg, 2016).
Development of stigma has led to discrimination and interfering with individual
functionality on the social and economic life. This has seen to impact on not fully
participating in the treatment process undertaken by health professionals, (Green, Davis,
Karshmer, Marsh, & Straight 2005). Mental health patient’s stigmatization offers a complex
form of labeling individual different, negative judgmental evaluation by others, adverse
reactions and increased emotional outcomes for the patients, (Green et al., 2005), this, in turn,
affects the healthcare professional assistance limiting care services offered.
Impacts of Psychiatric Diagnostic Labels
The norm of healthcare professionals using diagnostic labels in the treatment process
has often led to the emergence of cues and stereotypes. Stigmas associated with this practice
have been shown to have significant t damage on the utilization of health services. The
impact generated extends to the family and caregivers, thus limiting the level of treatment
processes, (Garand, Lingler, Conner & Dew, 2009).
A survey undertaken by Matsunag & Kitamura, (2016), labeling of schizophrenia,
results indicated that this led to stigmatization towards care provided, thus indicating a
critical review of optimizing education techniques among mental health professionals on
mental illness so as to avoid such emerging stigmatizing attitudes.
Further critical reviews have shown that mental health professionals may ten dot focus

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on the diagnosis rather than the person. Diagnosis label can be termed negative if it focuses
on the specific problem and downplaying positive attributes of the individual, (Antczak,
2011).Health care personnel’s may tend to selectively engage in information which tends to
confirm the labeling while neglecting other important information. Further labeling tends to
focus on the attitude of all or nothing diagnosis, the labeling of the patent behavior tend to be
more categorical. A patient is viewed as having a mental disorder or not based on the set
threshold diagnosis, (Heilter, 2012).
Furthermore, diagnostic labeling can offer more devastating forms of medical
conditions such in the case of bipolar. Patients having this disorder have more vulnerability
of developing stigma. Label with such conditions often evokes strong statements which might
hinder treatment access. Other forms of schizophrenia and the bipolar disorder at maniac
phase have shown to attract attention and evoke emotional and behavioral changes which
cause suffering on the patients. Further patients having Psychiatric distress go through social
disengagement and this proves to be a challenge in accessing care services.
The evidence portrayed signifies that labeling portends early forms o stigmatization on
the patient and on the part of Psychiatric care. The process of labeling creates certain
conditions which can exacerbate the care process. In a study among schizophrenia patients,
patient labeling has been widely been a contentious issue on its effects on the patient, quality
of life social life and mental care recovery process, (Thornicroft et al., 2009). Globally,
schizophrenic patients have often been viewed negatively by the general public; attributes
associated with negative perception include aggressive and un-predictive behavior. Coupling
this trends with labeling tend to complicate the recovery process of this patients, (Wahl,
1997).
The utilization of Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has been
widely been used in assessing the management of mental health. This framework has
provided clear mental health labels which were aimed at assisting to effect communication
between the patient and the health service providers, (Evans et al., 2013). These labels
provided the way diagnosis was made, treated and mental health research. However recent
research has displayed glaring challenges in its utilization. There exist blurriness in the
borderline created between the DSM, hence making the diagnostic label unclear. This process
jeopardized care service offered as it can lead to misdiagnosis or over the treatment of a
specific condition without taking into account individual characteristics, (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Thus with the long history of utilization, mental health labeling have been portrayed to

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have weakness and danger signals which hampers treatment processes. Mental health
practitioners need to be skilled and professional in their practice. Recognizing the effects of
diagnosing and the consequential effects on the care process are of essence towards the care
services offered by them, (Johnstone, 2017). A mental health professional need to have an
informed comprehensive and informative diagnosis devoid of mental diagnosis labeling as
this can hamper their practice progress. This calls for mental health practitioners to practice
competently within their scope of duty and perform skills and duties as stipulated accurately
without having judgmental thoughts, (Timimi, 2014).
In conclusion, there is need for improvements of treatment processes for the patients
and being aware of the diagnosis and the negatives impacts associated with diagnosis labeling
on patients and effects on mental care practices. As observed from studies undertaken,
diagnostic labels can be an obstacle in the treatment process of patients and affect the
outcome. Further, they pose serious challenges on individual patient personality, as the
labeling is often sticky and stigmatizes the patients and care process for mental health
professionals. Rather than using diagnostic labeling in mental health care, adoption of bio-
psycho-social factors on patient assessment is essential in understanding how patients
progress. This helps improve treatment efficacy and reduce stigma related labels and
eliminated unwarranted influence thus offering the best clinical judgments.

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