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In an unprecedented move for a professional body, the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP), which represents more than 10,000 practitioners and is part of the distinguished British Psychological Society, will tomorrow publish a statement calling for the abandonment of psychiatric diagnosis and the development of alternatives which do not use the language of "illness" or "disorder".

The statement claims: "Psychiatric diagnosis is often presented as an objective statement of fact, but is, in essence, a clinical judgment based on observation and interpretation of behaviour and self-report, and thus subject to variation and bias."

The language may be arcane, but the implication is clear. According to the DCP, "diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorders and so on" are of "limited reliability and questionable validity".

Diagnosis is often described as the holy grail of psychiatry. Without it, psychiatry's foundations crumble. For this reason Mary Boyle, emeritus professor at the Univerity of East London, believes that the impact of the DCP's statement marks a dramatic shift in the mental health debate.

Die „Division of Clinical Psychology“ der „British Psychological Society“, die 50.000 Psychologen vertritt, plädiert in einem „Position Statement“ (13. Mai 2013) dafür, das DSM sowie den psychiatrischen Teil der ICD zu verwerfen. Sie fordert eine Abkehr vom medizinischen Modell seelischen Leidens und vom „Krankheitskonstrukt“. Sie begründet dies u. a. mit der mangelnden Validität des DSM sowie der in Großbritannien wie auch in Deutschland üblichen ICD.