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The Diagnostic System : Why the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders Is Necessary, Difficult, and Never Settled / Jason Schnittker.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 online resource (368 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780231178068
  • 9780231544597
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 616.89/075 23
LOC classification:
  • RC469 .S36 2017
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- 1. THE CONTESTED ONTOLOGY OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS -- 2. WHAT DIAGNOSES ARE -- 3. DSM-III AND THE DESCRIPTIVE SCIENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS -- 4. RETHINKING THE DSM -- 5. HOW PROFESSIONALS USE DIAGNOSES -- 6. HOW THE PUBLIC USES DIAGNOSES -- 7. HOW SCIENTISTS USE THE DSM -- 8. HOW CULTURES USE DIAGNOSES -- 9.THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC NOSOLOGY -- 10. THE ENDLESS SEARCH FOR VALIDITY -- 11. THE ENDURANCE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM -- NOTES -- INDEX
Summary: Mental illness is many things at once: It is a natural phenomenon that is also shaped by society and culture. It is biological but also behavioral and social. Mental illness is a problem of both the brain and the mind, and this ambiguity presents a challenge for those who seek to accurately classify psychiatric disorders. The leading resource we have for doing so is the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but no edition of the manual has provided a decisive solution, and all have created controversy. In The Diagnostic System, the sociologist Jason Schnittker looks at the multiple actors involved in crafting the DSM and the many interests that the manual hopes to serve. Is the DSM the best tool for defining mental illness? Can we insure against a misleading approach?Schnittker shows that the classification of psychiatric disorders is best understood within the context of a system that involves diverse parties with differing interests. The public wants a better understanding of personal suffering. Mental-health professionals seek reliable and treatable diagnostic categories. Scientists want definitions that correspond as closely as possible to nature. And all parties seek definitive insight into what they regard as the right target. Yet even the best classification system cannot satisfy all of these interests simultaneously. Progress toward an ideal is difficult, and revisions to diagnostic criteria often serve the interests of one group at the expense of another. Schnittker urges us to become comfortable with the socially constructed nature of categorization and accept that a perfect taxonomy of mental-health disorders will remain elusive. Decision making based on evolving though fluid understandings is not a weakness but an adaptive strength of the mental-health profession, even if it is not a solid foundation for scientific discovery or a reassuring framework for patients.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780231544597

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- 1. THE CONTESTED ONTOLOGY OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS -- 2. WHAT DIAGNOSES ARE -- 3. DSM-III AND THE DESCRIPTIVE SCIENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS -- 4. RETHINKING THE DSM -- 5. HOW PROFESSIONALS USE DIAGNOSES -- 6. HOW THE PUBLIC USES DIAGNOSES -- 7. HOW SCIENTISTS USE THE DSM -- 8. HOW CULTURES USE DIAGNOSES -- 9.THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC NOSOLOGY -- 10. THE ENDLESS SEARCH FOR VALIDITY -- 11. THE ENDURANCE OF THE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM -- NOTES -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Mental illness is many things at once: It is a natural phenomenon that is also shaped by society and culture. It is biological but also behavioral and social. Mental illness is a problem of both the brain and the mind, and this ambiguity presents a challenge for those who seek to accurately classify psychiatric disorders. The leading resource we have for doing so is the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but no edition of the manual has provided a decisive solution, and all have created controversy. In The Diagnostic System, the sociologist Jason Schnittker looks at the multiple actors involved in crafting the DSM and the many interests that the manual hopes to serve. Is the DSM the best tool for defining mental illness? Can we insure against a misleading approach?Schnittker shows that the classification of psychiatric disorders is best understood within the context of a system that involves diverse parties with differing interests. The public wants a better understanding of personal suffering. Mental-health professionals seek reliable and treatable diagnostic categories. Scientists want definitions that correspond as closely as possible to nature. And all parties seek definitive insight into what they regard as the right target. Yet even the best classification system cannot satisfy all of these interests simultaneously. Progress toward an ideal is difficult, and revisions to diagnostic criteria often serve the interests of one group at the expense of another. Schnittker urges us to become comfortable with the socially constructed nature of categorization and accept that a perfect taxonomy of mental-health disorders will remain elusive. Decision making based on evolving though fluid understandings is not a weakness but an adaptive strength of the mental-health profession, even if it is not a solid foundation for scientific discovery or a reassuring framework for patients.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)