In the run-up to publication of DSM-5, there was much discussion of the extent to which the pharmaceutical industry—“Big Pharma”—stood to profit from the revisions.
Concerns are raised about DSM-5 revisions in the definition of depression. Many worry that eliminating the bereavement exception in the guidelines for the diagnosis of major depressive disorder represents a dangerous move.
Very important—but generally neglected—aspects of the history of psychiatry provide something of a glimpse of what historians of mental health and illness are mulling over these days.
When this physician published an article containing his case summaries of 3 women with dementia praecox, he made it clear that this was a disease that neurologists and physicians in general practice could easily and reliably diagnose by following his diagnostic procedures.
A common misconception about the history of mental illness is that, before Freud and psychoanalysis, there was no such thing as talk therapies or what is commonly known today as psychotherapy.
In last month’s column, I discussed how 19th century psychiatrists began recognizing the possibility that a mental disorder might affect only one facet of an individual’s personality (volition), leaving others relatively untouched.
