Diagnoses,Relational Processes and Resourceful Dialogs: Tensions for Families and Family Therapy |
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| Authors: | Tom Strong |
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| Affiliation: | Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), given its psychiatric focus on mental disorders in individuals, presents families and family therapists with challenges. Despite considerable controversies over its adoption, the DSM‐5 extends a process of standardizing a language for human and relational concerns. No longer a diagnostic language of professionals alone, its use is medicalizing how mental health funders and administrators, as well as clients, respond to human concerns. For family therapists who practice systemically, particularly from poststructuralist and strengths‐based orientations, many tensions can follow when use of the DSM‐5 is expected by mental health administrators and funders, or by clients who present concerns about themselves or a diagnosed family member. In this paper, I explore how such DSM‐5 related tensions might be recognized, navigated, and negotiated in the practice of family therapy with clients, and with administrators and funders. |
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| Keywords: | Psychiatric Diagnoses Couple and Family Therapy Conversational Practice diagnó sticos psiquiá tricos terapia familiar y de pareja prá ctica conversacional 精 神 科 诊 断 伴 侣 和 家 庭 心 理 治 疗 对 话 实 践 |
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