Today’s episode presents a comprehensive neurodivergent critique of data-driven psychiatry, specifically targeting the reform efforts proposed by studies like Forbes et al. (2024), which seek to restructure the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) using quantitative data. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that psychiatry’s ongoing “reconstructions,” cloaked in the language of progress and precision, merely refine mechanisms of surveillance and control rather than offering genuine liberation or systemic change. Through personal experience as an AuDHD, gestalt-processing transfemme academic, Dr. Hoerricks illustrates how these dimensional models reduce complex human experience to quantifiable deficits, leading to the erasure of nuanced needs for marginalised groups. Ultimately, she pivots to advocating for a socialist reconstruction of society, positing that true repair requires addressing systemic oppression and material conditions (e.g., universal care and income) rather than perpetually classifying individual differences as pathology.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/reconstructing-the-reconstructors
Let me know what you think.
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