Descriptions and Prescriptions

John Z. Sadler, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Descriptions and Prescriptions is one of the best accounts of the intense debates on the values underlying the DSM, the need for accountability in psychiatric diagnosis, and some of the chief philosophical and political issues in psychiatry. -- Steven S. Sharfstein, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine Anyone who believes that developing the best diagnostic manual possible is an important and complicated task, and also wants to contribute to the process in a scholarly and reflective way, is well-advised to study these chapters. -- Peter Zachar Metapsychology This is a stimulating book for healthcare professionals interested in the clarity and development of psychiatric diagnoses, and while most appropriate for the seasoned professional, it can be a useful stimulant to the advanced student in psychiatric healthcare professions. Doody's Health Sciences Review In particular, I believe this volume has explicit value for all who serve on a DSM-V committee, as well as those with an interest in nosology or medical sociology, those with a critical role in psychiatric education, or those who simply have a philosophical bent (a non-DSM character trait). -- Robert J. Van Den Bosch, M.D., Ph.D. American Journal of Psychiatry 2003

• Contents: List of Contributors Acknowledgments PART ONE: Introduction and Background 1 Introduction 2 The Limits of an Evidence-Based Classification of Mental Disorders 3 Values, Politics, and Science in the Construction of the DSMs PART TWO: Conceptual and Methodological Considerations 4 Values and Objectivity in Psychiatric Nosology 5 Survival of the Fittest? Conceptual Selection in Psychiatric Nosology 6 Technical Reason in the DSM-IV: An Unacknowledged Value 7 Implications of a Pragmatic Theory of Disease for the DSMs 8 Rethinking Normativism in Psychiatric Classification PART THREE: Diagnostic Categories and Values 9 Evaluation and Devaluation in Personality Assessment 10 Values and Validity of Diagnostic Criteria: Disvalued versus Disordered Conditions of Childhood and Adolescence 11 Implications of an Embrace: The DSMs, Happiness, and Capability 12 Why Criteria of Involuntary Action Are Value Laden PART FOUR: Personal and Collective Interests 13 The Hegemony of the DSMs 14 What Patient and Families Look for in Psychiatric Diagnosis 15 Softened Science in the Courtroom: Forensic Implications of a Value-Laden Classification 16 Speaking Across the Border: A Patient Assessment of Located Languages, Values, and Credentials in Psychiatric Classification 17 Psychotherapists as Authors: Microlevel Analysis of Therapists' Written Reports PART FIVE: Visions for the Future 18 Clinical and Etiological Psychiatric Diagnoses: Do Causes Count? 19 Defining Genetically Informed Phenotypes for the DSM-V 20 Values in Developing Psychiatric Classifications: A Proposal for the DSM-V 21 Report to the Chair of the DSM-VI Task Force from the Editors of Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, "Contentious and Noncontentious Evaluative Language in Psychiatric Diagnosis" (Dateline 2010) References Index