Guest guest Posted November 17, 2002 Report Share Posted November 17, 2002 This is a book review I did a few years ago. The book also goes into the politilization of psychiatric diagnoses. Also of concern in the U.S. is the government's use of psychiatric diagnoses to silence whistle blowers in the U.S. military. Military whistle blowers frequently find themselves shipped off to the psychiatric wing of military hospitals for indefinite stays. Victoria MAKING US CRAZY: DSM: THE PSYCHIATRIC BIBLE AND THE CREATION OF MENTAL DISORDERS by Herb Kutchins and Stuart A. Kirk, ISBN 0-684-82280-6. Review by Judy Fitzgerald. The DSM - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - of the American Psychiatric Association has been criticized by many for its labeling of anything and everything as mental illnesses based on the flimsiest or non-existent scientific proof. This time the criticism is coming from two individuals very much familiar with the psychiatric industry. Herb Kutchins is a professor in the School of Health and Human Services at California State University, Sacramento, and is the author of many articles on criminal justice, mental health, and social welfare law. Stuart Kirk holds the Marjorie Crump Chair in the School of Public Policy and Social Research at UCLA and was the Dean of the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York, Albany. Central to the authors' criticisms is the realization that a mental disorder is what social scientists call a construct. " Constructs are abstract concepts of something that is not real in the physical sense that a spoon or motorcycle or cat can be seen and touched. Constructs are shared ideas, supported by general agreement. ... Mental illness is a construct, a shared abstract idea. " (p23) So who decides what is a mental illness in the U.S.? The American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the DSM is their Bible. Few of the rest of us have any say so about what goes into the DSM And mental illness is a growth industry. The original DSM in the 1950s listed only fifty-some mental illnesses. The current DSM-IV lists well over 300 with plans for more in future additions. However, there's more fueling this phenomenon than just the desire for power and wealth by the psychiatric industry. Insurance payments are based on a client being labeled with one of the entries in the DSM. Thus, a client who wants only a sounding board and a neutral party for advice on any number of common life situations - an abusive boss, a marriage, relocation, etc.- will find him/herself saddled with a psychiatric diagnosis from the DSM. Once labeled this can impact negatively on the person being able to get insurance, a new job, etc. in the future. The role of the pharmaceutical companies in the expansion of entries in the DSM is of particular interest to people with chronic medical conditions - especially for sufferers of conditions like CFIDS for which no cure currently exists and for which known treatments are common supplements such as magnesium and B12 which can not be patented and hence, do not bring the drug companies big profits. " The pharmaceutical companies, for one, have a big stake in psychiatric diagnosis. It is well known that drug companies provide substantial funding for the American Psychiatric Association's conventions and major scientific journals and reap enormous profits from the expanding market for psychiatric medications. They also fund a substantial number of psychiatric researchers. It is less well known that some pharmaceutical companies have contributed directly to the development of DSM. The companies have a direct financial interest in expanding the number of people who can be defined as having a mental disorder and who then might be treated with their chemical products. For this reason, drug companies are disturbed by the findings of many surveys that have found that a majority of people whom DSM would label neither define their own problems as mental illness nor seek psychiatric help for them.19 For drug companies, these unlabeled masses are a vast untapped market, the virgin Alaskan oil fields of mental disorder. " (pp.12-13) The authors go on to tell how a 26-item checklist, Prime-MD, was developed with money from Pfizer, a large drug company, which holds the copyright to Prime-MD. Pfizer also pays for symposiums for physicians on using Prime-MD along with a lecture on psychopharmacology. A busy physician who has no psychiatric training whatsoever can then make a psychiatric diagnosis in an average of " only eight minutes " with the aid of Prime-MD, and then either prescribe drugs or refer the patient to a psychiatrist. The authors also give examples of how the supposedly scientific basis of the current DSM often is anything but. Critics of new diagnoses are given no or few opportunities for input - not even other psychiatrists who are critical. Research which is more than 30 years old - and often which is shaky in terms of scientific methodology - is cited as scientific proof. This sloppiness also extends to diagnosis. Criteria for some mental illnesses in some instances do not have to be met concurrently. For example, a diagnosis of certain cases of flu are dependent on the patient having fever and a headache at the same time. Would a doctor diagnose a patient as having the flu when he had the fever at age 19 and the headache at age 34? Yet, this is allowed with psychiatric diagnoses. I thoroughly recommend MAKING US CRAZY to anyone who has ever suffered a physical medical condition only to be told " It's all in your head. " Also, to anyone concerned about the psychiatric industry's increasing medicalization of common life problems. ************ For more information about this unholy alliance between the pharmaceutical and psychiatric industries, check out the book Toxic Psychiatry by Peter Breggin, MD. Or, check out his web site. Dr. Breggin is himself a psychiatrist, but one who has been increasingly dismayed by the abuse and fraud in his profession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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