Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Science must not care about its impact

Dave sent me a link to an article by Goldrake who is an interesting guy highlighting the same type of bad science. Check out his website.

However his article is on how a genetic origin adds more stigma to those with such a disorder.
And lastly, more compelling than any individual study, a review of the literature to date in 2006 found that overall, biogenetic causal theories, and labelling something as an “illness”, are both positively related to perceptions of dangerousness and unpredictability, and to fear and desire for social distance. They identified 19 studies addressing the question. 18 found that belief in a genetic or biological cause was associated with more negative attitudes to people with mental health problems. Just one found the opposite, that belief in a genetic or biological cause was associated with more positive attitudes.
I say very clearly that science should and must not care about how their findings impact on society and individuals with a biogenetic disorder. Science is about describing aspects of reality, and this cannot change depending on whether its impact is good or not.

However, no disorder ever is purely biogenetic. Humans are biopsychosocial beings with biological, psychological, and social processes being intricately linked. Whatever the origin of a disorder, be it biological (like a disease or gene), psychological (like traumatic stress), or social (like bullying), the impact is always felt on all three systems. For me, stuttering definitely starts and stays a biogenetic disorder, but its impact change psychological and social processes as well which in turn add to the disorder.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

here is a relevant study in the area of stuttering http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T8H-4X97CTM-1&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info%28%23toc%235087%232009%23999659996%231571337%23FLA%23display%23Volume%29&_cdi=5087&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=10&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=37b4cc2570542d58b42d9528b74733eb