So, that was the social context of diagnosis and treatment. Quite a journey. [LAUGH] And some of you are probably thinking that was a very critical look at diagnosis and treatment in the mental healthcare system and I just want to be clear that when I say, it is a critical look at the diagnosis and treatment I'm using critical in the sense, not that I think it's just, that I'm just trying to be negative about everything in the system. This is not an anti-psychiatry lecture. I worked in the mental healthcare system for a very long time. I really believe it has something to offer people. And I, I believe that diagnosis and treatment is something that, at least at this point in our history, at this point in our state of knowledge, these are things that we need because there are people that are dealing with emotional and mental health. And, you know, cognitive problems that need help and diagnosis is the way that they get that help. And treatment is the help that we have to offer them right now. I do imagine that at another time and in another place it could be different. But that's where we are at the moment. So, so why so critical? critical in the sense that I think a course like this gives us the opportunity to think about what surrounds diagnosis and treatment and how that is not an objective enterprise. It's affected by things like social relations in the wider society, power relations in the wider society, and I think that if we understand that, we can make better choices about what kind of a mental healthcare system we want to have. What kind of treatment options do we think it should have? What kind of things do we think psychiatry has the right to involve itself in and what kind of things do we think maybe psychiatry should keep its hands off of? And even if there is a diagnosis for something, what do we, as individuals, believe is the value of having something diagnosed? Another part of that that I referred to just briefly, is that, I believe that there's work that we need to do in understanding what constitutes a healthy and positive post-diagnosis life. Because, if you are a person, or somebody you know is in a situation where they receive a diagnosis, that's a psychiatric diagnosis, there has been a tendency in the past to think that, that means that, you know, life is over, that, that everything about them is now going to be defined by that diagnosis. I believe there are many other possibilities. I believe that diagnosis can be just one aspect of a person's living. And that it doesn't have to be a shadow that affects the quality of life or that affects their entire future, their social relationships, all these sort of things. I think it means different things at different times, and that we need to have conversations about the meaning of diagnosis as well as what it means to get the diagnosis. So, with that, we are going to be moving on to culture, mental health, and mental illness next week. This is actually a lecture, I think, that really is going to shed a light on how diagnosis and treatment can be different in different contexts and also what it can mean in, even in even in the North American context where we're so embedded in this biomedical model. So, I look forward to having that conversation with you next week and look forward to seeing your discussions this week.
