The second part of the
study on Neopositivism and Psychiatric Classification has been published on
History of Psychiatry. In this second part the concrete historical pathways are
considered, showing that probably neopositivism shaped the DSM implicitly. In the
same paper the present status of the epistemological debate is presented and it
is showed that when the DSM-III appeared, Hempel himself had already abandoned the
“reliability first” principle. The following is the abstract. The entire paper
can be found at: http://hpy.sagepub.com/content/24/4/415.abstract
Abstract
Little
is known about the concrete historical sources for the use of neopositivist
operational criteria by the DSM-III. This paper suggests that distinct sources
operated implicitly. The current usefulness of the operational approach is
questioned. It is shown that: (a) in epistemology, neopositivism has been
replaced by more adequate accounts; (b) psychologists rejected operational
definitions because these were unable to define the majority of mental
phenomena; (c) mental symptoms cannot be directly described as such, because
they already make part of the psychiatric diagnosis to which they belong. In
conclusion, diagnosing is based on the hermeneutical co-construction of mental
symptoms. The failure of the neopositivist programme suggests that it is time
to reconcile scientific formalization and semiotic activity.
