Is psychological diagnosis in a strictly "medical" sense, possible?
It should be noted at the outset that current statutes that help to regulate professional practice in this area do use the term "diagnosis" in the medical sense of the term - i.e., identifying the cause of a disorder or disease by observing a patient's symptomatology. It seems clear from this that the cause is separate from its effects. It is however, not clear how a psychological condition can be both a symptom as well as a disorder. As it stands now, according to current accepted nosology(ies) in psychological practice there are numerous examples of psychological conditions that are both symptoms as well as disorders. It is important to note that there are altogether four separate classification systems used to "psycho-diagnose" a person in Canada. Added to this confusion is the fact that different schools in psychology have different and often conflicting explanations for disorders. Humanistically-oriented practitioners will often refrain from diagnosing a patient in the medical sense of the term. It is therefore, small wonder that differences of opinion should arise quite frequently in the mental health field making it vulnerable to ethical violations and legal uprisings. All this has surprisingly, not deterred the crown from implementing Acts and statutes that are apparantly meant to regulate the practice of diagnosis by mental health professionals. It is equally surprising that in spite of psychological science's infancy (only 100 years or so of experiments) and that prognosis and etiological factors are frequently fuzzy at best, it has not stopped therapists from designing such severe treatments as electro-shock, long-term use of neuroleptics and anti-depressants, aversive conditioning and so on. A related feature of this scenario is that there are physical conditions that are not yet understood by the medical community and are therefore, often being delegated to mental health professionals by other healthcare professionals (e.g., certain forms of chronic pain and fatigue). Nothing could be more dangerous!

Self-fulfilling polls - prophecies or what? (From Canada Eh...)

The other day I read on the Globe http://www.globeandmail.com, that some of the behind-the-scenes campaign workers in the Liberal party were disheartened about the latest polls suggesting that the Conservatives were "gaining ground" quite rapidly. Some have apparantly begun seeking other political and vocational paths and opportunities should the Liberals lose the election. If this is how the insiders close to the candidates feel in response to the polls, then how should the voters feel...? Are these polls meant to inform voting trends and aid further critical analysis or are they actually influencing voting behavior? There is some empirical evidence to suggest the latter. In a world overloaded with complex arguements and issues, voters (especially those who are yet uncertain about the candidate, party or the colour of tie they like best) often look to these numbers on day-to-day polls taken by research houses. These research institutes who are often affiliated to media organizations or atleast trying to be affiliated with them, are sensitive to the fact that many of the major media corporations have strong political leanings. In the Great White North here, there are news-media personalities who have gone beyond political analysis to actually running for election or taking on powerful portfolios in government. It seems to me that in their attempts to seek greater market presence and profit, sensitivity to media politics may exceed the margin of error reported in these polls by these research groups. Members of the news-media should realize that they are playing a similar role that popular entertainers play when they affiliate themselves with political candidates. Members of the press should realize that they are no longer depicting natural variation in voting behavior but are actually reducing political freedom in this country by presenting these statistics without responsible analysis (e.g., discussing historical and psychological factors that affect the numbers).