heavenwaits_22
Jan 24th, 2008, 10:43 AM
Therapists Say Stop 'Diagnosing' Britney
By JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK (AP) — You wouldn't think a pop culture diva like Britney Spears would exactly fit into the usual fare on discussion at the annual winter conference of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
But last week, on the sidelines of the gathering of hundreds of analysts from around the country, the topic did indeed arise — specifically those armchair diagnoses of the troubled starlet's mental health, popping up in celebrity magazines and tabloids everywhere.
"Britney's Mental Illness." "Bipolar Britney?" And so on. Under such headlines, articles have gone on to quote psychiatrists or psychologists who've never met Spears, saying she exhibits "classic" signs of one disorder or another.
"I've been very upset about this," says Mark Smaller, a psychoanalyst from Chicago who attended last week's meetings at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "This idea of making a diagnosis of someone they've never met is completely inappropriate, and it gives mental health professionals a bad name."
The rest of the article can be found here:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DIAGNOSING_BRITNEY?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
By JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK (AP) — You wouldn't think a pop culture diva like Britney Spears would exactly fit into the usual fare on discussion at the annual winter conference of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
But last week, on the sidelines of the gathering of hundreds of analysts from around the country, the topic did indeed arise — specifically those armchair diagnoses of the troubled starlet's mental health, popping up in celebrity magazines and tabloids everywhere.
"Britney's Mental Illness." "Bipolar Britney?" And so on. Under such headlines, articles have gone on to quote psychiatrists or psychologists who've never met Spears, saying she exhibits "classic" signs of one disorder or another.
"I've been very upset about this," says Mark Smaller, a psychoanalyst from Chicago who attended last week's meetings at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "This idea of making a diagnosis of someone they've never met is completely inappropriate, and it gives mental health professionals a bad name."
The rest of the article can be found here:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DIAGNOSING_BRITNEY?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT