The DSM-5 in Perspective: Philosophical Reflections on the Psychiatric Babel (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences Book 10)

Since its third edition in 1980, the __Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders__ (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association has acquired a hegemonic role in the health care professions and has had a broad impact on the lay public. The publication in May 2013 of its fifth edition, the DSM-5, marked the latest milestone in the history of the DSM and of American psychiatry. In __The DSM-5 in Perspective: Philosophical Reflections on the Psychiatric Babel__, experts in the philosophy of psychiatry propose original essays that explore the main issues related to the DSM-5, such as the still weak validity and reliability of the classification, the scientific status of its revision process, the several cultural, gender and sexist biases that are apparent in the criteria, the comorbidity issue and the categorical vs. dimensional debate. For several decades the DSM has been nicknamed “The Psychiatric Bible.” This volume would like to suggest another biblical metaphor: the Tower of Babel. Altogether, the essays in this volume describe the DSM as an imperfect and unachievable monument – a monument that was originally built to celebrate the new unity of clinical psychiatric discourse, but that ended up creating, as a result of its hubris, ever more profound practical divisions and theoretical difficulties. Since its third edition in 1980, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association has acquired a hegemonic role in the health care professions and has had a broad impact on the lay public. The publication in May 2013 of its fifth edition, the DSM-5, marked the latest milestone in the history of the DSM and of American psychiatry. In The DSM-5 in Perspective: Philosophical Reflections on the Psychiatric Babel, experts in the philosophy of psychiatry propose original essays that explore the main issues related to the DSM-5, such as the still weak validity and reliability of the classification, the scientific status of its revision process, the several cultural, gender, and sexist biases that are apparent in the criteria, the comorbidity issue, and the categorical vs. dimensional debate. For several decades the DSM has been nicknamed ĺlThe Psychiatric Bible.ĺl This volume would like to suggest another biblical metaphor: the Tower of Babel. Altogether, the essays in this volume describe the DSM as an imperfect and unachievable monument ĺl a monument that was originally built to celebrate the new unity of clinical psychiatric discourse, but that ended up creating, as a result of its hubris, ever more profound practical divisions and theoretical difficulties Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Ideal of Scientific Progress and the DSM....Pages 3-24 DSM-5 and Research Concerning Mental Illness....Pages 25-42 DSM-5 and Psychiatry’s Second Revolution: Descriptive vs. Theoretical Approaches to Psychiatric Classification....Pages 43-62 DSM-5: The Delayed Demise of Descriptive Diagnosis....Pages 63-81 Must Disorders Cause Harm? The Changing Stance of the DSM....Pages 83-96 “Deviant Deviance”: Cultural Diversity in DSM-5....Pages 97-110 Front Matter....Pages 111-111 Danger and Difference: The Stakes of Hebephilia....Pages 113-124 Sexual Dysfunctions and Asexuality in DSM-5....Pages 125-139 The Crippling Legacy of Monomanias in DSM-5....Pages 141-155 The Loss of Grief: Science and Pseudoscience in the Debate over DSM-5’s Elimination of the Bereavement Exclusion....Pages 157-178 Against Hyponarrating Grief: Incompatible Research and Treatment Interests in the DSM-5....Pages 179-197 RDoC: Thinking Outside the DSM Box Without Falling into a Reductionist Trap....Pages 199-224 DSM-5 and the Reconceptualization of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder....Pages 225-238