Originally Posted by Hektore

Yes, there are physical maladies diagnosed primarily by manifestation of symptoms. In physical medicine they're the exceptions, not the rule. In psychiatry, diagnosis by symptoms is almost all there is. There are problems with diagnosis by symptoms, these problems apply equally to physical medicine as well as psychiatric medicine, which is why diagnostics for causative agents are preferred.

This is why when you go for an STD test the doctor doesn't look at your junk and tell you that you're healthy. You take a blood test also. In terms of the reliability of the diagnosis, being told you have herpes is not the same thing as being told you have an anxiety disorder.

Secret: Certainly psychiatry as an industry has it's problems, so does medicine in general. The people make the diagnosis shouldn't be the ones with a financial stake in the matter, neither should the people conducting the clinical trials for that matter. That NPR piece is a perfect example.

I would expect that professionals would speak up against the industry in defence of their field. When nobody is taking a stand and saying, wait a minute we aren't as certain as some say we, are I get suspicious. Especially when it seems quite obvious they aren't as certain as they say they are.