Dr Pies is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Lecturer on Bioethics and Humanities, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine; and Editor in Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times (2007-2010). Dr Pies is the author of several books. A collection of his works can be found on Amazon.
Did 19th Century Physicians Think “Mental Disease” Was Merely a Metaphor?
June 23rd 2014A limited sampling presented here lends no support to Dr Thomas Szasz’s claim that 19th century physicians regarded the term “mental disease” as merely a figure of speech; on the contrary, several prominent physicians of this era recognized such conditions as both real and debilitating.
Science, Psychiatry, and Family Practice: Positivism vs. Pluralism
October 14th 2013The physician’s knowledge is almost always fragmentary and incomplete--and often, “we see through a glass, darkly.” But we must not allow these limitations to deter us from diagnosing and treating our patients to the best of our ability.
Diagnosis and its Discontents: The DSM Debate Continues
March 29th 2013When critics of psychiatric diagnosis insist that terms like “schizophrenia” or “bipolar disorder” are inherently stigmatizing, they are unwittingly perpetuating the very prejudice they wish to end. It is time to shine a bright light on this self-fulfilling prophecy.
Mental Illness Is No Metaphor: Five Uneasy Pieces
September 14th 2012Is the expression “mental illness” merely a metaphor? If so, does that tell us something about the persons we identify as having a mental illness? To clinicians who deal with devastating psychiatric disorders every day-and to those afflicted with these conditions-these questions may seem like a lot of semantic nonsense.
Is There Really an “Epidemic” of Psychiatric Illness in the US?
May 2nd 2012If claims in the non-professional media can be believed, there is a “raging epidemic of mental illness” in the US, if not world-wide-and, in one version of this narrative, psychiatric treatment itself is identified as the culprit.
DSM-5’s Bereavement Bind: Time for an Independent Review
April 6th 2012Opponents in the now well-worn, “Bereavement Exclusion” debate can probably agree on one thing: of all the proposed changes in the DSM-5, the move to eliminate the bereavement exclusion has ignited the most intense emotional reaction among the general public.
How American Psychiatry Can Save Itself: Part 2
March 2nd 2012In this article the topic addressed are the primary reasons for the American public’s disenchantment with psychiatry; how the profession ought to address these issues; and how we need to replace the DSM’s categorical system with one that is clinically useful for both clinicians and patients.
After Bereavement, Is It “Normal Grief” or Major Depression?
February 22nd 2012Much of the controversy on the relationship between grief and depression following recent bereavement has focused on whether the so-called “bereavement exclusion” in DSM-IV should be eliminated, as some have proposed, in the DSM-5.
Beyond DSM-5, Psychiatry Needs a “Third Way”
February 9th 2012The recent spate of Op-Eds in the New York Times says it all: both the psychiatric profession and the general public have strong feelings about the pending DSM-5-what many in the media like to call “Psychiatry’s Bible.” These emotions are certainly understandable.