Customer Reviews

DSM-IV-TR Mental Disorders: Diagnosis, Etiology and Treatment

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book. I read the other review on this book and I have to say that it is definately eskewed. Yes this book offers some of the pharmachological alternatives used for treatments. It also discusses the pros of psychotherapy and CBT and how these can be applied to the treatment process. Another plus to the book offering medications associated with the disorder is as a treatment professional, I can use this information during the evaluation phase of treatment. The book also discusses the History, Etiology, & Course of each disorder. Yes, the DSM-IV is not a specific medical reference, but this book is written from a psychiatric standpoint and thus provides a great deal of infomation from the medical field. This book was the primary text in my psychopathology class. I brought it to work and my boss was so impressed with it that he ordered a copy for each of the therapists at my agency. Again...Great Book.

This book is very dense with information. It offers MULTIPLE perspectives and highlights the current tendencies of treatment. It is a springboard for appropriate differentiation of disorders and development of treatment strategies. Additionally, the medical aspect allows a practioner to see what research has been supporting to allow one to make a critically thought out and informed decision. It also has decision trees not found in the DSM-IV-TR. If you like to think out of the box, this book will provide the structure to do so effectively!

This book is extremely helpful. Provides all the important elements of diagnosing a client. A must for all therapists. This book will be helpful to students or professionals.

Up to date, very extensive, great buy. I am going into psychology and this is a very useful, almost required tool. However it is, like all text books, pricey.

I was pretty sure that I ordered a NEW book as i have always ordered new books, but I was very disappointed when the product arrived and that was highlighting and markings in the book! I am not happy about that...

This volume is an expansion of the oblique DSM IV-TR and delves into the etiology and treatment of mental illness, in addition to diagnosis. The etiology is of course purely theoretical, and the treatment is set by the marketing strategies that target psychiatrists, and by skewed studies sponsored mostly by the pharmaceutical companies. The DSM IV-TR is a great book to promote diseases that fit the armaments of medications that the pharmaceutical companies would like physicians to use.
The problem with the whole DSM serie is that it is mostly subjective and based on speculation. The DSM is not based on hard empirical evidence but on a consensual system by few well-connected psychiatrists on the payroll of the pharmaceutical companies working only as "consultants" to avoid conflict of interest, which would allow them to continue to receive the loot. These same psychiatrists also happen to belong to the American Psychiatric Association and/or work as hired guns/consultants for the APA, which also happens to receive yearly funding or gifts (disguised as continuing education) from the pharmaceutical companies $500,000 worth.
The whole process is deceitful and shameful!!!
Please check the Washington Post article on 04-20-06 titled:
"Experts Defining Mental Disorders Are Linked to Drug Firms."
It will validate what I have been exposing for a long time.
Also attached below the absrtract from the study:

"Financial Ties between DSM-IV Panel Members and the Pharmaceutical Industry
Lisa Cosgrovea, Sheldon Krimskyb, Manisha Vijayaraghavana, Lisa Schneidera

aUniversity of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass., and
bTufts University, Medford, Mass., USA
Address of Corresponding Author
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2006;75:154-160 (DOI: 10.1159/10.1159/000091772)

Key Words
* Conflicts of interest
* Ethics
* Financial interests
* Psychopharmacologics
Abstract
Background: Increasing attention has been given to the transparency of potential conflicts of interest in clinical medicine and biomedical sciences, particularly in journal publishing and science advisory panels. The authors examined the degree and type of financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry of panel members responsible for revisions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM). Methods: By using multimodal screening techniques the authors investigated the financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry of 170 panel members who contributed to the diagnostic criteria produced for the DSM-IV and the DSM-IV-TR. Results: Of the 170 DSM panel members 95 (56%) had one or more financial associations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry. One hundred percent of the members of the panels on 'Mood Disorders' and 'Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders' had financial ties to drug companies. The leading categories of financial interest held by panel members were research funding (42%), consultancies (22%) and speakers bureau (16%). Conclusions: Our inquiry into the relationships between DSM panel members and the pharmaceutical industry demonstrates that there are strong financial ties between the industry and those who are responsible for developing and modifying the diagnostic criteria for mental illness. The connections are especially strong in those diagnostic areas where drugs are the first line of treatment for mental disorders. Full disclosure by DSM panel members of their financial relationships with for-profit entities that manufacture drugs used in the treatment of mental illness is recommended."