Modern medicine and the one-size-fits-all approach: A clinician's comment to Alexandra Pârvan's "Mind Electric" article

J Eval Clin Pract. 2018 Oct;24(5):1079-1083. doi: 10.1111/jep.13003. Epub 2018 Aug 15.

Abstract

As a clinician, I can easily agree with the author that a person's own reality of being healthy is independent of physical evidence or clinical categories and that this perspective should be considered to improve clinical care. However, I cannot follow the assumptions about the nature and working of modern medicine and psychiatry as typically using "black box" and one-size-fits-all treatments in daily practice. I outline several working contexts of doctors where this criticism does only marginally apply or not at all and wonder whether the author might wish, if possible at all from a philosophical viewpoint, to differentiate her concepts with regard to these different contexts. In addition, I think that ill health in the field of psychiatry might have to be dealt with differently than physical ill health.

Keywords: diagnosis; health care; patient-centred care; philosophy of medicine; psychopathology; specialization.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Metaphysics*
  • Physical Examination
  • Psychiatry*