Decolonizing psychiatric diagnosis: Turning the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders on its head.

Abstract

Public Significance Statement—By drawing on Franz Fanon, we “diagnose” the colonial logic and Eurosettler ideologies inherent in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a widely used classification system for mental disorders. We then discuss vastly different worldviews that underpin Indigenous approaches to “assessment” and “diagnosis” that acknowledge the giftedness of all people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)