Design for mental health: can design promote human-centred diagnostics?

Abstract Many have suggested different ways of conceptualizing mental health conditions in mental health services. However, eliciting the unicity of the individual experience of mental health conditions in the diagnostic process remains challenging. In this position paper, we describe the diagnostic process in psychiatry and outline three challenges for which insights from the design research paradigm, in particular so-called generative sessions, may represent an opportunity for innovation. We suggest that by implementing generative sessions, conversations about individual experience can be initiated, the focus on diagnostic categories can be shifted towards personal variation, and the integration of empirical evidence of recovery can be facilitated. Therefore, we argue that exploring generative sessions in the diagnostic process can stimulate incremental and iterative advancements in diagnostic systems. To test its hypothesized impact on clinical practice, we recommend several directions for further research in co-creation with traditional mental health professionals, people with mental health conditions, and people with lived experience.