The psychiatrization of negative emotions

ABSTRACT It is of the utmost importance to distinguish psychiatric illness from normal negative emotions. An 82-year-old man without a history of psychiatric disease was committed for a suicide attempt and medicated with an antidepressant. At reevaluation, no psychopathology was present. Medication was weaned off, and he was discharged home. The case report illustrates psychiatrization driven by top-down factors, such as the diagnostic vagueness of classification systems or the heterogeneity of psychiatric assessments. Diagnosing mental health involves much more than following a checklist and merely considering the patient’s words and responses to questioning.