Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:1224-1226
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
The mind-body dichotomy reified: an illustrative case
M Schoenberg, MG Miller and CE Schoenberg
Cartesian dualism, the splitting of human existence into mind versus body,
is at times reified with unfortunate consequences. The authors report a
case in which a social policy formulation based on such diagnostic dualism
resulted in the denial of health-related facility placement to a patient.
They argue that this denial was prejudicial and illogical and that benefits
should be related to a functional disability rather than to diagnosis.
