Well, as a psychiatrist (ret) I would use "pursue" instead of adopt. You raise legitimate points and psychiatry has the data you mention and is doing that type of research you mention. It is also abandoning "talking therapy," (too time-consuming) and making unwarranted diagnoses all for the sake of increasing the bottom line. For example, Personality disorders are rarely diagnosed and are replaced with bi-polar affective disorder--why? Because you cannot treat personality disorders with medicine. Virtually all of the research in Psychiatry pursues the "Nature" (biological) side of mental illness while ignoring the "Nurture" (life's experiences and learning) side---that in and of itself is pursuit of the biological model.
As a long time consumer of psychiatry and a pastoral counsellor (who tries to keep a stable of good shrinks for referrals and as an anchor to windward) I'd say that certainly all of us care-givers can get seduced by any number of things, including the curious satisfaction of a fat bank account.
For example, Personality disorders are rarely diagnosed and are replaced with bi-polar affective disorder--why? Because you cannot treat personality disorders with medicine
Humongo 10-4 here. At a guess, I'd suggest that a generally lousy prognosis would also play into the desire to write a scrip, collect the fee, and get it over with.
I was a chaplain a million years ago (1974-1975) at Mass General and the Psych wing then was entering the pursuit of the "organic" etiology of God, the universe and everything, and they didn't think much of chaplains. (Not that I blame them. A lot of us were pretty flakey.)
But I was very taken, when they would allow me to converse with some of their patients, with what seemed to me to be clear signals of organic aspects to some of the illnesses. Untrained as I was, though, I couldn't make much of a scientific case.
However if I had any doubts about the organic aspects of some affective disorders, they were dispelled when I had 3 out of 4 of the suite of bad neuro reactions to lovastatin. - Loss of taste and smell, lost of memory, and depression like unto wading through a universe of pudding. I finally figured it out when I realized that if somebody came to me and "presented" the way I felt, I would drop everything and drive him or her to a hospital.
Now every major decision in my house is prepared for with coffee and prayer. So I went to the coffee maker and, Lo, there was my bottle of pills. And a lightbulb lit over my head as I said to myself,"You don't suppose ...." A few phone calls to some mental health professionals later and I had my diagnosis.
I bet that treatment of some personality disorders would be assisted with some of them thar serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or whatever, but my own personal pet theory is that personality disorders are in the same family as (a lot of) substance abuse and need the same kind of approach -- and that therefore drugs just won't do it.
My philosophy crack was that speaking of "psychiatry" as pursuing something might border on the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness". I would suggest, for discussion and not as a final word, that there is no "psychiatry", there are only lots o' psychiatrists.
Thanks for your response.
Borderlines - (((( shuddderrrr ))))!!!