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DSM

A History of Psychiatry's Bible

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DSM

By: Allan V. Horowitz
Narrated by: Rich Miller
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About this listen

The first comprehensive history of "psychiatry's bible" - the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Over the past 70 years, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, has evolved from a virtually unknown and little-used pamphlet to an imposing and comprehensive compendium of mental disorder. Its nearly 300 conditions have become the touchstones for the diagnoses that patients receive, students are taught, researchers study, insurers reimburse, and drug companies promote. Although the manual is portrayed as an authoritative corpus of psychiatric knowledge, it is a product of intense political conflicts, dissension, and factionalism. The manual results from struggles among psychiatric researchers and clinicians, different mental health professions, and a variety of patient, familial, feminist, gay, and veterans' interest groups. The DSM is fundamentally a social document that both reflects and shapes the professional, economic, and cultural forces associated with its use.

In DSM, Allan V. Horwitz examines how the manual, known colloquially as "psychiatry's bible", has been at the center of thinking about mental health in the United States since its original publication in 1952.

©2021 Johns Hopkins University Press (P)2021 Tantor History & Commentary Medicine & Health Care Industry Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Mental Health Health Health Care
All stars
Most relevant
Would recommend all to read this, laymen and clinicians alike, since diagnoses has gotten such a prominent role in society today.

Well written and deep-diving just enough

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As a psychologist of 20 years and an expert witness for the court where diagnosis is used as if truth, I found this a brilliant exploration of the history of a book which influences nearly every aspect of mental health service provision today as well as our lay cultural understanding of mental health. Very clear and interesting drawing in both the medical psychological but also social political and economic strands that have so influenced the evolution of psychiatric diagnosis.

Should be required reading for all mental health professionals

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