Gender And Diagnosis Essay

Not only is wrongful diagnosis, over diagnosis, and clinician perception a negative of diagnosis, but there is much gender bias in diagnosing clients. The article “Gender and Diagnosis: Struggles and Suggestions for Counselors” by Erikson and Kress (2008), explains the issues with diagnosis between genders. According to Erikson and Kress (2008), feminists believe that certain diagnoses have forced women to conform to the norms of female domesticity. Feminist theorists believe that women’s anger, depression, and discontent has been reframed as psychiatric symptoms. As a result, the stressful and difficult circumstances of women's lives have been overlooked and deemed diagnosable (Erikson & Kress, 2008). Further, research has shown that both men and women have been harmed by the unquestioned diagnostic systems. Erkison and Kress (2008) report: “In fact, many authors have pointed out the stigmatizing effects of diagnostic labels; the classist, sexist, racist, and homophobic assumptions embedded in both the International Classification of Diseases and the Diagnostic

For example, it was discovered that mental health practitioners mostly deemed men as healthy adults because of their independence, goal-directed activity, and personal assertion. On the contrary, women were seen to be psychologically unhealthy, as compared to men, because they are less independent, easily hurt, less adventurous, less aggressive, conceited about their appearance, and more emotional. If women were to be seen as psychologically healthy adults, they had to act like men. Due to the mindset that well socialized White men are healthy adults, they run the risk of under-diagnosis. Which means that they do not receive the services that they may need to address these disorders (Erikson & Kress, 2008). Both genders can be harmed by over, under, and