Objectivity in a Subjective Field: The Current State and Future Directions of “Objective” Diagnostics in Psychiatry

Abstract

Even in its most evidence-based practice, medicine is often an inherently subjective field, both in terms of self-reported symptoms on the patient side and clinical reasoning on the provider side. There is arguably no area of medicine as subjective as psychiatry, a specialty which often focuses on emotions, experiences, and realities that are difficult to quantify or “objectively” analyze. Historically, this subjectivity limited progress and treatment options in psychiatry in many ways. Until the mid-20th century, psychiatry was rooted in anecdotal cases within institutions, followed by a largely psychoanalytic framework supported by evidence which was tenuous at best.