Posted by Jost on June 23, 2006, at 19:53:22
In reply to Are pdoc diagnoses any good? (Slate), posted by pseudoname on June 23, 2006, at 19:04:08
I wouldn't rely on what people say on a survey for that sort of thing.
For one thing, it doesn't take account of the major changes in how quickly (and under what conditions) pdocs institutionalize people, how long people are kept in the hospital, in the absence of continuing strong indications, and how much trouble it is to interact with insurance cos. about treatment, etc.
The treatment climate--incentives, trends, norms, etc-- has changed so much since the original experiment, that you'd really have to look a lot more deeply before you could draw such conclusions.
. I'd say the new study's not terribly convincing.
Plus, after all, what else can pdocs use if they ignore what people claim about themselves-- most people don't go to a hospital claiming they're hearing voices saying anything (even something as odd, to me anyway, as "thud") unless they are. And then people often presumably don't want to be in psychiatric hospitals--they weren't exactly pleasant places-- and if you have the mindset that you're going to keep people there for perhaps misguidedly paternalistic (or society-protective) reasons, you're not necessarily going to believe subsequent denials.
Until we become mind-readers--or have a whole lot--a whole whole whole lot-- more knowledge of the brain-- it's going to be hard for pdocs to have 'objective' evidence about their patients' thoughts.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:660728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060623/msgs/660749.html