Mental health research based on ‘flawed’ classifications

Mental health research, evidence-based practice and interventions have a “flawed basis” due to the ways that disorders are classified by psychiatrists and psychologists, the UK’s body of clinical psychologists has said.

In a statement published on 13 May, the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society calls for a “paradigm shift” in how mental health and psychiatric conditions are classified.

The group’s intervention comes just days before the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is due to be published. For the first time, the manual will include conditions such as grief and temper tantrums as mental disorders.