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A Social Constructivist Perspective on the Potential Relevance of Selected DSM ‐5 Disorders for South African Children and Youth
Author(s) -
Kriegler Susan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12097
Subject(s) - poverty , mental health , context (archaeology) , perspective (graphical) , psychology , relevance (law) , psychiatry , pandemic , sociology , medicine , covid-19 , economic growth , political science , paleontology , disease , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , economics , biology
In S outh A frica, careless implementation of child psychiatry's biomedical model of ‘mental disorder’ could stigmatise children and youth who have been made vulnerable by the lingering effects of apartheid — poverty and malnutrition, violence and abuse, and the HIV / AIDS pandemic. A focus on DSM ‐5 category changes — regarding post‐traumatic stress disorder and ADHD — demonstrates that these psychiatric labels are impracticable and irrelevant in a post‐colonial developing country, where mental health care is delivered in the context of scarce services and unequal access. A social constructivist perspective enables us to broaden policy decisions and suggest directions for research.