Epidemiology and diagnostic systems in psychiatry

Abstract

Epidemiology and diagnosis are increasingly emerging as key topics in psychiatry. While each has particular roots, purposes and methods, a number of interesting points of contact can be elucidated. Bidirectional inter‐relations between these fields are being perceived as growing and promising. Modern approaches to diagnostic description have made possible the design of potent tools for epidemiological surveys, and results from the latter are contributing to the refinement of diagnostic profiles. The new international diagnostic systems, including multiaxial formulations not only of illness but of the patient's whole clinical condition, offer challenging opportunities for further interaction and progress.

Complejidad y transdisciplinariedad en el campo de la Salud Colectiva: evaluación de conceptos y aplicaciones

“…Aplicando el concepto de borrosidad en la investigación en salud mental desde el punto de vista de la epidemiología, Mezzich & Almeida-Filho (72) propusieron comprender los cuadros diagnósticos de los sistemas nosológicos actuales como prototipos y no como tipos ideales de objetos unívocos y precisamente definidos. Recientemente, este abordaje fue retomado por Johansen et al (79) a fin de investigar la validez del prototipo borderline personality disorder (BPD) como un constructo del sistema diagnóstico DSM-IV.…”

Assigning things to their proper class: taxonomic issues and trends in psychiatry

“…Whether the general conclusions of that symposium will prove to be a point of inflexion in the history of psychiatric diagnostic classification or not, it is impossible to predict. It has been said that any classification is a daughter of its time and its circumstances (MEZZICH and ALMEIDA-FILHO, 1994). Thus, we can only hope to see in the near future, with regards psychiatric diagnosis and classification, the simultaneous search for conceptual lucidity, cultural sensitivity and balance between scientific validity and clinical meaningfulness.…”

Towards a Unified Theory of Health-Disease: I. Health as a complex model-object

“…Scholars from several scientifi c fi elds have emphasized the need for theoretical work on the health concept as a crucial effort to promote effective interventions in concrete health-disease situations. 35,39,40,[54][55][56]75,76 Time seems ripe for evaluations of philosophical, scientifi c, political and pragmatic implications of the health concept, as a key topic in contemporary research agendas. Unfortunately, since Canguilhem's 29 and Dubo's 37 classical contributions to pathological and ecological models of disease, not enough investment, institutional and intellectual, has been devoted to theorizing about health-disease phenomena.…”