Medical paradigm

The problem of misdiagnosing and/or mistreatment in psychiatry is common to the same problem in any other branch of medicine, leading to the same legal intricacies. The roots of the problem seem to be in the very attitude to the subject characteristic of medical practice and research. Generally, this attitude may be formulated as follows: something goes wrong and must be cured. That is, it is implied that there is a kind of "norm", so that anything inconsistent with it should be considered as deviant and brought to the norm as soon as possible using all the techniques available. Since the notions of "normal" may differ in various social groups, and since they are subject to gradual modification, it may be difficult to decide whether a specific case should be considered as "normal" or not. The decision is bound to bear a mark of arbitrariness, being based on the experience of the specialist and current social orientations.

Of course, such a "medical" paradigm can be discovered in many activities far from medicine. It is most typical for political reformism. In law too, "crime" and "criminals" are defined in the same relative way. It is often encountered in education. The standards of style adopted by many reputable journals could be brought under this category as well.

Certainly, one cannot expect the world to be perfect already — and one will have to fight with its maladies while they do actually exist, and medical paradigm is to work along with the other attitudes. And therefore there will be those who will oppose the current understanding of "norm" and "deviation". This is quite natural, and it would in no way diminish the importance of medical treatment, up to the most strong methods "forced" on the patient. However, the techniques of treatment are gradually becoming less traumatic - though this progress could not have been achieved without the previous experience. The patients of today may be said to pay with their pain for the ease of the future generations.