ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine the question of whether psychiatric kinds possess natural essences, and if so, what these essences consist in. I first examine some contemporary accounts that have been put forward to capture psychiatric essences and explain the challenges that these accounts have been designed to address, such as a lack of firm boundaries between diagnoses and disagreements about metaphysical reductionism. I also address social constructionist concerns regarding the degree to which psychiatric diagnoses capture the structure of the world or serve as tools of human interests.
