La, La, La, La, La . . .A Modern Psychiatry that's been "Partially Discredited" andCriminal Justice

Val's Take

 This is not a hashed over Dr. Thomas Szasz of the 1960s and '70s--- saying there's no such thing as "mental illness."

    It's more saying there is a biological basis for neuro-developmental and psychiatric disorders and some of our understandings are being abandoned for new understandings based on more recent research and better technology.

On the other hand, current research is calling into question the DSM Categories and finding them inaccurate, albeit on different grounds than Szasz.

How likely is it that MAJOR PARADIGM SHIFTS could happen in our understandings of Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders and it not effect Criminal Justice?
Not likely

Immunological perturbations, psychiatric disorders and associated therapeutics: a new era for psychiatry? (2023)

Abstract

The three main theories explaining major mental illness, namely mood disorders, psychoses and dementias, have been partially discredited.

Alongside this, there are emerging links between perturbations of the immune system and the onset and phenotypic features of these disorders.

This article outlines the alternative pathophysiology and suggests potential treatments which could improve disease burden and avoid the need for psychotropic medication, with their associated side effects and relapse following withdrawal.

Dr. Thomas Szasz

Szasz argued throughout his career that mental illness is a metaphor for human problems in living, and that mental illnesses are not "illnesses" in the sense that physical illnesses are, and that except for a few identifiable brain diseases, there are "neither biological or chemical tests nor biopsy or necropsy findings for verifying DSM diagnoses."

-----Wikipedia

University of Michigan found that people with bipolar disorder have more "reactive cells" that ultimately have a life of their own.

This "inflamm--aging" process appears to begin in many cases in utero.

Further, understanding "neuro-developmental" and "psychiatric" disorders could be seen as the study of Humanity over many generations.

Immunophenotypes in psychosis: is it a premature inflamm-aging disorder? (2024)