Review
“[Horwitz] properly identifies the financial incentives that urge therapists and drug companies to proliferate psychiatric diagnostic categories. He correctly identifies the stranglehold that psychiatric diagnosis has on research funding in mental health. Above all, he provides a sorely needed counterpoint to the most strident advocates of disease-model psychiatry.”
-- Mark Sullivan ― Journal of the American Medical Association
"This is a must-read book. . . . The content is superb. It is filled with insights into the social, historical, and economic forces responsible for the overmedicalization of human unhappiness and distress."
-- George Graham ― Metapsychology
"A cogent and thought-provoking book. It deserves to be read widely and thoroughly, and not only by the already converted. In an ideal world it would be compulsory reading for mental health professionals in training." -- Nick Haslam ― Transcultural Psychiatry
“Horwitz analyzes the social history of the dynamic, diagnostic, and social constructionist frameworks with enormous historical detail. He crafts fascinating arguments regarding how each framework was conceptualized, sold, measured, and the social impact that it left in its wake. . . . A fascinating, meticulously researched social history that will appeal to a wide range of academic audiences.”
-- Diane Hamilton ― Nursing History Review
“Horwitz makes at least two major contributions to our understanding of mental disorders. First, he eloquently draws on evidence from the biological and social sciences to create a balanced, integrative approach to the study of mental disorders. Second, in accomplishing the first contribution, he provides fascinating history of the study and treatment of mental disorders . . . from early asylum work to the rise of modern biological psychiatry.”
-- Debra Umberson ― Quarterly Review of Biology
“A fascinating and scholarly critique of our classification of mental disorders.”
-- Lynn E. O’Connor ― Human Nature Review
From the Inside Flap
In this timely and provocative critique of modern psychiatry, Allan V. Horwitz examines current conceptions of mental illness as a disease. He argues that this notion fits only a small number of serious psychological conditions, and that most conditions currently regarded as mental illness are cultural constructions, normal reactions to stressful social circumstances, or simply forms of deviant behavior. According to Horwitz, the formulation of mental illness as disease benefits various interest groups, including mental health researchers and clinicians, prescriptive drug manufacturers, and mental health advocacy groups, all of whom promote disease-based models. Presenting case studies in maladies such as hysteria, multiple personality disorder, and depression, he examines the major causes and treatments of mental illness, paying special attention to the use of pharmaceuticals. While biologically based causes and treatments fit some of the entities formulated, Horwitz finds that more often than not, social responses offer far more suitable remedies.
From the Back Cover
In this timely and provocative critique of modern psychiatry, Allan V. Horwitz examines current conceptions of mental illness as a disease. He argues that this notion fits only a small number of serious psychological conditions, and that most conditions currently regarded as mental illness are cultural constructions, normal reactions to stressful social circumstances, or simply forms of deviant behavior. According to Horwitz, the formulation of mental illness as disease benefits various interest groups, including mental health researchers and clinicians, prescriptive drug manufacturers, and mental health advocacy groups, all of whom promote disease-based models. Presenting case studies in maladies such as hysteria, multiple personality disorder, and depression, he examines the major causes and treatments of mental illness, paying special attention to the use of pharmaceuticals. While biologically based causes and treatments fit some of the entities formulated, Horwitz finds that more often than not, social responses offer far more suitable remedies.
About the Author
Allan V. Horwitz is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University.
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