The recent May 18, 2013 release of the 'DSM - 5', the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, has been met with some controversy. To read more about the new DSM - 5, read
Lizzie Crocker's article in the Daily Beast. In general the criticism is that the listed diagnoses have changed, either been eliminated or added; and the widely held belief that normal human behavior is being assigned a mental health diagnosis. Whether you agree, disagree, don't care or don't know, as a reference librarian I find it fascinating that any new addition of a reference book can stir up readers' feelings to such a degree. When we receive the latest edition of most books in our reference collection, the event is marked only by the reference staff logging it in and shelving it. All this led me to reposting my review of a very funny non-fiction title that does discuss the medicalization of normalcy.
Are You a Psychopath? Take this Test
The Psychopath Test, a journey through the madness industry
by Jon Ronson starts with the author, a journalist, being asked to find
out who anonymously sent a cryptic self-published book to many
psychiatrists worldwide, which then leads him somehow, circuitously to a
Scientologist who gets him into Broadmoor Prison to interview a
criminally insane inmate who claims he's not insane. Scientologists
famously do not believe in psychiatry so they advocate for the prisoner.
The author then goes on to learn about the Hare Psychopathy Checklist
at a workshop lead by the list's creator Bob Hare himself. Armed with
his newly acquired psychopath-spotting ability, the author goes all over
the world for a year or so interviewing both diagnosed and suspected
psychopaths and mental health professionals while dipping into
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders
and exploring the latest top psychiatric diagnoses like bipolar
disorder in children. The irony of his research is that Ronson presents
himself as an anxious neurotic; he worries a lot about being tracked
down by some of the killers he meets and he worries about whether he
might have some psychopathic tendencies, constantly referring back to
the checklist to self-diagnose. The book is about at least two topics:
psychopaths, or course, but also how mental illness came to be diagnosed
by checklists in the DSM and the subsequent increase in number of
diagnoses of mental disorders and the increased development of drugs to
treat them. That is an ambitiously broad range of topics to cover in
only 275 pages. What is psychopathy? How do we diagnose it? Why has
there been an increase in the number of mental illnesses listed in the
DSM which seem increasingly close to a normal state? Are there more
psychopaths in positions of great power, like CEO's of corporations?
Ronson raises a lot of questions, so if you are interested in related
titles, you could read the following books: (call #'s follow the title)
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (Ref 616.89 Dia)
The books of psychiatrist Oliver Sacks
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, which is not about psychiatry or madness, but about medicine's use of checklists.(610.28 Gaw)
Opening Skinner's box: great psychological experiments of the twentieth century by Lauren Slater (150.72 SLA)
Related websites:
Laura Miller's review in Salon
Robert Hare's website
original posted by Anne
http://bhplnjbookgroup.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-you-psychopath-take-this-test.html
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