Eindexamen vwo Engels 2012 - II havovwo.nl Tekst 2

› TROUBLED PRACTICES blurring the boundaries between the two disorders. Such diagnoses, then, by Richard P. Bentall are “about as scientifically meaningful as star signs”. 1 Despite advances in 4 Doctoring the Mind is a very our understanding of accessible and well-organized book, mental illness, but what makes it most engaging is treatments leave the glimpse inside the world of patients no better off mental illness that Bentall’s patient today than they did stories provide. His accounts almost half a century illustrate the point that a ago―according to conventional approach often leaves British clinical psychologist Richard doctors stumbling blindly in the P. Bentall. In his provocative book, dark. Some of the stories are so Doctoring the Mind, Bentall takes on bewildering that it is hard to the conventional field of , comprehend how they happened. One arguing that it works in a way that is example is Andrew, who was brought “profoundly unscientific” and fails to into a facility for psychiatric actually help patients who are examination. Presumably in an suffering from mental problems. attempt to find behaviors that fit a 2 The root of the problem is diagnosis, health care professionals psychiatry’s heavy focus on the focused on the fact that Andrew was biomedical approach, which, research “excessively polite”. One of the shows, is “fatally flawed”, Bentall reasons for keeping him in the writes. drugs are not institution, then, became to work out working well, and the impression whether his politeness was “part of that they do is actually the result of his normal personality or his illness.” “skillful 5 4 Bentall thinks part of the marketing”, he claims. The same is answer is taking into account the true for antidepressants, Bentall circumstances that most likely led to says, citing studies that found mental problems in the first place. appalling methodological flaws in the But rather than trying to make broad drugs’ clinical testing. For example, diagnoses such as , we in some studies “patients were should look at individual symptoms, removed and replaced by new he says. For example, research has patients if they failed to show an already elucidated potential early response to the antidepressant”. experiences that may contribute to 3 But it’s not only the treatments the development of . Such an that ail the field of mental health approach, however, would require care; the diagnoses themselves can be nothing less than “completely equally problematic, Bentall says. rethinking the values and goals of That’s because the current system of psychiatric care.” categorizing psychiatric problems is ―Nicole Branan fundamentally wrong, he argues. For example, many patients show both SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, 2010 bipolar and schizophrenia symptoms,

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Tekst 2 Troubled practices

3p 3 Geef van elk van de volgende beweringen aan of deze wel of niet overeenkomt met de inhoud van de de alinea’s 1 tot en met 3. In Doctoring the Mind, Richard P. Bentall 1 asserts that the diagnosis of mental illness often lacks scientific grounds. 2 blames pharmaceutical companies for providing addictive drugs. 3 claims that the current treatment of mental illness is inadequate. 4 pleads for more funding for research into effective medication. 5 suggests that psychiatrists are too quick to diagnose a mental problem as schizofrenia. Noteer het nummer van elke bewering, gevolgd door “wel” of “niet”.

1p 4 Which of the following questions fits the gap in paragraph 5? A So how can the gap between diagnosis and treatment be bridged? B So is hospitalisation a necessary step in treating mental illness? C So what does it take for mental health care to get on the right track?

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