Abstract
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of mental disorders is evaluated according to the empirical scientific criteria of validity and reliability, and it is found to be fundamentally flawed on both counts. Additionally, any diagnostic approach based on the objectivizing principles of empirical science is found to be both ontologically and epistemologically unable to account for the complexity of human subjectivity/intersubjectivity. A revisioning of psychological diagnosis according to specifically human scientific criteria is called for; and an outline of criteria to serve as fundamental guidelines for the development of phenomenological and holistic approaches to diagnosis is presented.
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