Hi

I would like to thank everyone who has sent me references. The material I have been provided with mainly revolves around the DSM, for as one of the individuals who assisted me observed:  "As far as I know there isn't much historical material on psychiatric classifications in ICD  - if anyone sends you a ref I'd be glad to have it."  I now have enough material on the DSM but I am still interested in studies dealing with psychiatric classifications in ICD, i.e. if they exist!

Regards,
Steindór 
_________________________________
Steindór J. Erlingsson
Vísindasagnfræðingur/historian of science
http://www.raunvis.hi.is/~steindor/
________________________________________
Frá: Promoting discussion in the science studies community [[log in to unmask]] Fyrir hönd Robert Maxwell Young [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 2. mars 2009 11:35
Viðtakandi: [log in to unmask]
Efni: History of Psychiatry: DSM & Psychiatric Nosology

This is a response to the following email which I hope will be of interest to some others

Hi

I am currently reading Allan V. Horowitz's "Creating Mental Illness", where he among other things discusses critically the transformation that occurred in US psychiatry with the introduction of DSM-III. As I am not familiar with the history of psychiatry literature can anyone direct me towards:
1) other critical studies of this transformation,
2) studies discussing the development of International Statistical Classification of Mental and behavioural disorders (ICD), especially if and when it underwent a "DSM-III transformation",
3) studies comparing the two.

If anyone can help me please email the information to me personally: [log in to unmask]

Regards,
Steindór
_________________________________
Steindór J. Erlingsson
Vísindasagnfræðingur/historian of science
http://www.raunvis.hi.is/~steindor/

MY RESPONSE:
I am very interested in this topic and have written some things about it, but I have never properly written up my research. Here are some good Leads. Start with Wikipedia on DSM

DSM in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders#Criticism_2
Some references from that article. I found the New Yorker one very clear. There has also been a good overview in a recent NY Rev. of Books:
Angell, Marcia
'Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption
NY Review of Books 15 Jan. 2009-03-02 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237

DSM-III and the revolution in the classification of mental illness.
    Mayes R, Horwitz AV.
    University of Richmond, Department of Political Science, USA.
    A revolution occurred within the psychiatric profession in the early 1980s that rapidly transformed the theory and practice of mental health in the United States. In a very short period of time, mental illnesses were transformed from broad, etiologically defined entities that were continuous with normality to symptom-based, categorical diseases. The third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) was responsible for this change. The paradigm shift in mental health diagnosis in the DSM-III was neither a product of growing scientific knowledge nor of increasing medicalization. Instead, its symptom-based diagnoses reflect a growing standardization of psychiatric diagnoses. This standardization was the product of many factors, including: (1) professional politics within the mental health community, (2) increased government involvement in mental health research and policymaking, (3) mounting pressure on psychiatrists from health insurers to demonstrate the effectiveness of their practices, and (4) the necessity of pharmaceutical companies to market their products to treat specific diseases. This article endeavors to explain the origins of DSM-III, the political struggles that generated it, and its long-term consequences for clinical diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in the United States. Copyright 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     PMID: 15981242 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    Related Articles

        * Making sense of historical changes in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: five propositions. [J Health Soc Behav. 1997]
        * How Kraepelinian was Kraepelin? How Kraepelinian are the neo-Kraepelinians?--from Emil Kraepelin to DSM-III. [Hist Psychiatry. 2007]
        * The revolution in psychiatric diagnosis: problems at the foundations. [Perspect Biol Med. 2007]
        * ReviewDSM-III and the transformation of American psychiatry: a history. [Am J Psychiatry. 1993]
        * Review[Criteriological evolution in psychopathology] [Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi. 1989]


Wilson, M. (1993) DSM-III and the transformation of American psychiatry: a history. Am J Psychiatry. 1993 Mar;150(3):399-410.

Speigel, A. (2005) The Dictionary of Disorder: How one man revolutionized psychiatry The New Yorker, issue of 2005-01-03. I found this very helpful, indeed.

Lane, Christopher (2007). Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness. Yale University Press. pp. 263. ISBN 0300124465

Overview of controversies: http://ezinearticles.com/?Mental-Health-Manuals---Controversy-In-The-Field&id=297578

Another overview: http://justnoticeabledifferences.blogspot.com/2008/12/controversy-over-dsm-v.html

Excellent book on psychiatric classification:

Barham, Peter (1984) Schizophrenia and Human Value. Oxford: Blackwell; reprinted Free Association Books, 1993

Excellent book:
The Selling of DSM
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lI7S9zDcUXgC&dq=The+Selling+of+DSM&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=E4HsJF4gBw&sig=EVxRopUkui4iLmGw9eGlE1PrcUA&hl=en&ei=OrqrSfDSF9zFjAeNvInfDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPP1,M1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Selling-DSM-Rhetoric-Psychiatry-problems/dp/0202304329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235991246&sr=1-1

I have written some essays bearing on these issues:

Between Nosology and Narrative: Where Should We Be?
http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/pap120.html

The Concept of Psychopathology: A Critique
http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/paper63.html

'Descriptive v Dynamic Concepts of Psychopathology'
http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/pap111.html

THE MORAL AND THE MOLECULAR IN THE FUTURE OF PSYCHIATRY
http://www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy.com/human_nature/papers/paper44h.html

I'd be glad to be sent any other references people have.

Best, Bob Young











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