Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis / Edition 1

by Paula J. Caplan, Lisa Cosgrove, Maureen McHugh, Alisha Ali, Louise Armstrong

Overview

The public has a right to know that when they go to a therapist, they are almost certain to be given a psychiatric diagnosis, no matter how mild or normal their problems might be. It is unlikely that they will be told that a diagnosis will be written forever in their chart and that alarming consequences can result solely from having any psychiatric diagnosis. It would be disturbing enough if diagnosis was a thoroughly scientific process, but it is not, and its unscientific nature creates a vacuum into which biases of all kinds can rush. Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis is the first book ever published about how gender, race, social class, age, physical disability, and sexual orientation affect the classification of human beings into categories of psychiatric diagnosis. It is surprising that this kind of book is not yet on the market, because it is such a hot topic, and the negative consequences of psychiatric diagnosis range from loss of custody of a child to denial of health insurance and employment to removal of one's right to make decisions about one's legal affairs. It is an unusually compelling book because of its real-life relevance for millions of people. Virtually everyone these days has been a therapy patient or has a loved one who has been. In addition, psychiatric diagnosis and biases in diagnosis are increasingly crucial portions of, or the main subject of, legal proceedings. This book should sit next to every doctor's PDR, especially given the skyrocketing use of psychoactive drugs in toddlers, children, and adolescents, as well as in adults, and especially because receiving a psychiatric label vastly increases the chances of being prescribed one or more of these drugs. A Jason Aronson Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765700018
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	10/08/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	949,415
Product dimensions:	6.11(w) x 9.22(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., is a clinical and research psychologist, Adjunct Professor (Research) at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University, and Adjunct Professor at Washington College of Law, American University, and author of ten previous books. Lisa Cosgrove, Ph.D. is a clinical and research psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Is This Really Necessary? Part 3 Part I The Creation of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 4 The Construction Of Illness Chapter 5 The Deep Structure of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 6 Creating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study of the History, Sociology, and Politics of Psychiatric Classification Chapter 7 Abnormal Psychology Textbooks Exclude Feminist Criticism of the DSM Part 8 Part II Legal Implications of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 9 Psychiatric Diagnosis in the Legal System Chapter 10 Bias and Subjectivity in Diagnosing Mental Retardation in Death Penalty Cases Chapter 11 What Is It That's Being Called "Parental Alienation Syndrome"? Part 12 Part III Some Forms that Bias Takes Chapter 13 The Intersection of Racism and Sexism in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 14 Clinical Cases and the Intersection of Sexism and Racism Chapter 15 Should Racism Be Classified As a Mental Illness? Chapter 16 Ageism in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 17 The Psychiatric Policing of America's Children Chapter 18 Confusing Terms and False Dichotomies in Learning Disabilities Chapter 19 Diagnosis of Low-Income Women Chapter 20 Seeking "Normal" Sexuality on a Complex Matrix Chapter 21 Gender Bias and Sex Distribution of Mental Disorders in DSM-IV-TR Chapter 22 Mislabeling Anxiety and Depression in Rural Women Part 23 Part IV Specific Labels Chapter 24 Bias and Schizophrenia Chapter 25 The Truth about "False Memory Syndrome" Chapter 26 Reclaiming the Meanings of "Self-esteem" Chapter 27 Agoraphobia Chapter 28 Depression in women Chapter 29 The "Eating-Disordered" Patient Chapter 30 The Fine Line between Clinical and Subclinical Anorexia Chapter 31 Histrionic Personality Chapter 32 Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Chapter 33 Some Gender Biases in Diagnosing Traumatized Women Chapter 34 Medicalizing Menstrual Distress Part 35 Part V Moving Ahead Chapter 36 A New View of Women's Sexual Problems Chapter 37 Resisting Diagnosis Chapter 38 The Importance of Critical Inquiry Chapter 39 Some Future Contenders

Editorial Reviews

This is an extraordinarily important book. It should be required reading for all mental health professionals and especially for all teaching programs. Further, it could serve as an excellent illustration of the social construction of what comes to be called science. It is that and also much more than an intellectual exercise because these issues affect profoundly the fate of so many people.

Jean Baker Miller

By unraveling the roles of ideology, socially-constructed norms, and commercial interests in psychiatric diagnosis, this valuable book of original essays helps to explain the meteoric rise in psychotropic drug use and the new social trend of psychopharmaphilia. A book of accessible and stimulating original essays that unravels the complex web of transscientific factors and bias that enter into psychiatric diagnosis.

Sheldon Krimsky At Tufts University

Taken as a whole these collected essays offer an interesting starting point from which to begin a more rigorous inquiry into the problem and ultimately encourage action at both the individual and the professional level. The authors of this text should be congratulated on their worthy attempt to meet this challenge.

PsycCRITIQUES

By unraveling the roles of ideology, socially-constructed norms, and commercial interests in psychiatric diagnosis, this valuable book of original essays helps to explain the meteoric rise in psychotropic drug use and the new social trend of psychopharmaphilia. A book of accessible and stimulating original essays that unravels the complex web of transscientific factors and bias that enter into psychiatric diagnosis.

Planning At Tufts University - Sheldon Krimsky

The collection is powerful, unique, comprehensive, cogent, sane, balanced, and extremely important. It covers almost every major form of bias and oppression, as well as the profound biases embedded in many individual diagnostic labels. This is a must-read for all mental health professionals and their clients.--Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D., emerita professor of psychology and women studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY), author of 12 books, including Women an

This is an extraordinarily important book. It should be required reading for all mental health professionals and especially for all teaching programs. Further, it could serve as an excellent illustration of the social construction of what comes to be called science. It is that and also much more than an intellectual exercise because these issues affect profoundly the fate of so many people.--Jean Baker Miller, M.D., director of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute and author of Toward a New Psychology of Women

By unraveling the roles of ideology, socially-constructed norms, and commercial interests in psychiatric diagnosis, this valuable book of original essays helps to explain the meteoric rise in psychotropic drug use and the new social trend of psychopharmaphilia. A book of accessible and stimulating original essays that unravels the complex web of transscientific factors and bias that enter into psychiatric diagnosis.--Sheldon Krimsky, Tufts University "Planning At Tufts University "

From the Publisher

The collection is powerful, unique, comprehensive, cogent, sane, balanced, and extremely important. It covers almost every major form of bias and oppression, as well as the profound biases embedded in many individual diagnostic labels. This is a must-read for all mental health professionals and their clients.

Phyllis Chesler

Providing historical and sociological analyses, the contributors demonstrate bias in diagnoses, stemming from sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia/heterosexism, and classism. They argue that awareness of bias is important to any "helping" profession involved with diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental retardation, parental alienation syndrome, learning disabilities, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, false memory syndrome, agoraphobia, eating disorders, histrionic personality, and menstrual distress. Summing Up: Recommended.

CHOICE

Providing historical and sociological analyses, the contributors demonstrate bias in diagnoses, stemming from sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia/heterosexism, and classism. They argue that awareness of bias is important to any "helping" profession involved with diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental retardation, parental alienation syndrome, learning disabilities, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, false memory syndrome, agoraphobia, eating disorders, histrionic personality, and menstrual distress. Summing Up: Recommended.

Choice

By unraveling the roles of ideology, socially-constructed norms, and commercial interests in psychiatric diagnosis, this valuable book of original essays helps to explain the meteoric rise in psychotropic drug use and the new social trend of psychopharmaphilia. A book of accessible and stimulating original essays that unravels the complex web of transscientific factors and bias that enter into psychiatric diagnosis.
— Sheldon Krimsky, Professor at Tufts University

Planning At Tufts University

Providing historical and sociological analyses, the contributors demonstrate bias in diagnoses, stemming from sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia/heterosexism, and classism. They argue that awareness of bias is important to any "helping" profession involved with diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental retardation, parental alienation syndrome, learning disabilities, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, false memory syndrome, agoraphobia, eating disorders, histrionic personality, and menstrual distress. Summing Up: Recommended.

Choice Reviews