This unit explores the role of diagnosis in the treatment of mental health problems. It considers the history of our current understandings of 'mental health' and 'illness' with focus on the concepts of anxiety and depression, and looks at potential gains and losses in using diagnostic labels in counselling and pyschotherapy. This unit is an adapted extract from The Open University course D240 Counselling: exploring fear and sadness . It is at introductory level, and should take 8 hours to complete. It is part of the Open Learn section of Open University and all materials are freely available over the internet.
