The Book of Woe: the DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry

Description

A riveting expose of the psychiatric profession's bible from psychotherapist Gary Greenberg, revealing the deeply flawed process by which mental disorders are invented and uninvented - and how suffering has been turned into a commodity. Since its first edition in 1952, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been regarded as the leading authority on mental-health diagnosis and research. But throughout the DSM's various iterations, debate has raged over which psychological problems constitute mental illness - homosexuality, for instance, was a mental illness until 1973; and Asperger's gained recognition in 1994, only to see its status challenged nearly 20 years later. By examining the history of the DSM and the controversies over its latest revisions, Greenberg challenges the status quo of modern psychiatric practice. He shows how difficult - even impossible - it is to rigorously differentiate mental illness from everyday suffering; and he sheds light on how the politics behind mental-health classification has caused diagnosis rates of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder to skyrocket. Drawing on interviews with people on all sides of the debate, on historical examples, and on case studies from his own practice, Greenberg ultimately argues for a more humanistic approach to psychiatry. A combination of lively reportage and biting analysis, The Book of Woe will prove invaluable for expert and casual readers alike. 'A profound, and profoundly entertaining, riff on malady, power, and truth.' Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A Sense Of Direction 'A brilliant, ballsy excursion into the minefield of modern psychiatry.' Daniel Smith, author or Monkey Mind

Authors Bio, not available

"Gary Greenberg is a thoughtful comedian and a cranky philosopher and a humble pest of a reporter, equal parts Woody Allen, Kierkegaard, and Columbo. "The Book of Woe" is a profound, and profoundly entertaining, riff on malady, power, and truth. This book is for those of us (i.e., all of us) who've ever wondered what it means, and what's at stake, when we try to distinguish the suffering of the ill from the suffering of the human." --Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of "A Sense of Direction" "This could be titled "The Book of ...""Whoa!" An eye-popping look at the unnerving, often tawdry politics of psychiatry." --Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Fiddler in the Subway" "Greenberg is an entertaining guide through the treacheries and valuable instances of the "DSM," interviewing members on both sides of the divide and keeping the proceedings conversational even when discussing the manual's pretensions toward epistemic iteration. He also brings his own practice into ["The Book of Woe"], with examples of the "DSM" falling woefully short in capturing the complexity of personality. Bright, humorous and seriously thoroughgoing, Greenberg takes all the "DSM"s for a spin as revealing as the emperor's new clothes."--"Kirkus Reviews" "Bringing the full force of his wit, warmth, and tenacity to this accessible inside account of the latest revision of psychiatry's diagnostic bible, Gary Greenberg has written a book to rival the importance of its subject. Keenly researched and vividly reported, "The Book of Woe" is frank, impassioned, on fire for the truth--and best of all, vigorously, beautifully alive to its story's human stakes." --Michelle Orange, author of "This Is Running for Your Life" "Gary Greenberg has become the Dante of our psychiatric age, and the DSM-5 is his Inferno. He guides us through the not-so-divine comedy that results when psychiatrists attempt to reduce our hopelessly complex inner worlds to "The rewriting of the bible of psychiatry shakes the field to its foundations in this savvy, searching expose. Deploying wised-up, droll reportage from the trenches of psychiatric policy-making and caustic profiles of the discipline's luminaries, Greenberg subjects the practices of the mental health industry--his own included--to a withering critique. The result is a compelling insider's challenge to psychiatry's scientific pretensions--and a plea to return it to its humanistic roots."--"Publisher's Weekly, "starred review "Greenberg is an entertaining guide through the treacheries and valuable instances of the "DSM," interviewing members on both sides of the divide and keeping the proceedings conversational even when discussing the manual's pretensions toward epistemic iteration. He also brings his own practice into ["The Book of Woe"], with examples of the "DSM" falling woefully short in capturing the complexity of personality. Bright, humorous and seriously thoroughgoing, Greenberg takes all the "DSM"s for a spin as revealing as the emperor's new clothes."--"Kirkus Reviews" "Gary Greenberg is a thoughtful comedian and a cranky philosopher and a humble pest of a reporter, equal parts Woody Allen, Kierkegaard, and Columbo. "The Book of Woe" is a profound, and profoundly entertaining, riff on malady, power, and truth. This book is for those of us (i.e., all of us) who've ever wondered what it means, and what's at stake, when we try to distinguish the suffering of the ill from the suffering of the human." --Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of "A Sense of Direction" "This could be titled "The Book of ...""Whoa!" An eye-popping look at the unnerving, often tawdry politics of psychiatry." --Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Fiddler in the Subway" "Bringing the full force of his wit, warmth, and tenacity to this accessible inside account of the latest revision of psychiatry's diagnostic bible, Gary Greenberg h "[I]ndustrious and perfervid... Mr. Greenberg [argues] that the [DSM] and its authors, the American Psychiatric Association, wield their power arbitrarily and often unwisely, encouraging the diagnosis of too many bogus mental illnesses in patients (binge eating disorder, for example) and too much medication to treat them....Mr. Greenberg argues that psychiatry needs to become more humble, not more certain and aggressive....Greenberg is a fresher, funnier writer. He paces the psychiatric stage as if he were part George Carlin, part Gregory House." --Dwight Garner, "The New York Times" "Greenberg's documentation of the "DSM-5" revision process is an essential read for practicing and in-training psychotherapists and psychiatrists and is an important contribution to the history of psychiatry." --"Library Journal" "The rewriting of the bible of psychiatry shakes the field to its foundations in this savvy, searching expose. Deploying wised-up, droll reportage from the trenches of psychiatric policy-making and caustic profiles of the discipline's luminaries, Greenberg subjects the practices of the mental health industry--his own included--to a withering critique. The result is a compelling insider's challenge to psychiatry's scientific pretensions--and a plea to return it to its humanistic roots."--"Publisher's Weekly, "starred review "Greenberg is an entertaining guide through the treacheries and valuable instances of the "DSM," interviewing members on both sides of the divide and keeping the proceedings conversational even when discussing the manual's pretensions toward epistemic iteration. He also brings his own practice into ["The Book of Woe"], with examples of the "DSM" falling woefully short in capturing the complexity of personality. Bright, humorous and seriously thoroughgoing, Greenberg takes all the "DSM"s for a spin as revealing as the emperor's new clothes."--"Kirkus Reviews" "[A] brilliant look at the making of DSM-5...e