A dinner speech with Professor Allen Frances
We are declared sick faster and faster. In 1980, a person who mourned the death of a beloved one for a year was considered normal. In 1994, psychiatrists were advised to wait for two months before declaring sadness, tiredness and apathy as depression. Today, the advice is to ring the alarm after a few weeks.
A different alarm is rung by Allen Frances. The internationally renowned US-psychiatrist and professor (Duke University, North Carolina) warns of the inflation of psychiatric diagnosis and the consequences of the medicalization of ordinary life. The bestselling author depicts how the disease mongering took over, whose interests lie behind it and what we can do against it.
An evening at the GDI about the history and future of psychiatric diagnosis, the boundaries of psychiatry – and a plea for the right to be normal.