Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A philosophical view on concepts in psychiatry

Malmgren, Helge ; Radovic, Susanna ; Thorén, Henrik LU and Haglund, Bjorn (2010) In International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 33(2). p.66-72
Abstract
This essay first outlines a philosophical theory of concepts and then applies it to two areas of relevance to psychiatrists, especially forensic psychiatrists. In the philosophical theory, the respective roles of verbal and non-verbal definitions are illuminated, and the importance of the phenomenon of division of semantic labour is stressed. It is pointed out that vagueness and ambiguity of a term often result when the term is used for several practical purposes at the same time. Such multi-purpose uses of terms may explain both the current problems associated with the Swedish forensic-psychiatric concept of a severe mental disorder and some of the shortcomings of DSM-IV. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Operational definitions, psychiatry, Forensic, Diagnostic criteria, Concepts, Conceptual analysis, Severe mental disorder
in
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
volume
33
issue
2
pages
66 - 72
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000276128500002
  • scopus:76949094775
  • pmid:20061028
ISSN
0160-2527
DOI
10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.12.006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
50075bfb-28e7-42ec-aef8-491644cf337c (old id 1587037)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:06:30
date last changed
2022-04-05 00:11:07
@article{50075bfb-28e7-42ec-aef8-491644cf337c,
  abstract     = {{This essay first outlines a philosophical theory of concepts and then applies it to two areas of relevance to psychiatrists, especially forensic psychiatrists. In the philosophical theory, the respective roles of verbal and non-verbal definitions are illuminated, and the importance of the phenomenon of division of semantic labour is stressed. It is pointed out that vagueness and ambiguity of a term often result when the term is used for several practical purposes at the same time. Such multi-purpose uses of terms may explain both the current problems associated with the Swedish forensic-psychiatric concept of a severe mental disorder and some of the shortcomings of DSM-IV. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Malmgren, Helge and Radovic, Susanna and Thorén, Henrik and Haglund, Bjorn}},
  issn         = {{0160-2527}},
  keywords     = {{Operational definitions; psychiatry; Forensic; Diagnostic criteria; Concepts; Conceptual analysis; Severe mental disorder}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{66--72}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Law and Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{A philosophical view on concepts in psychiatry}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.12.006}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.12.006}},
  volume       = {{33}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}