Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis

頁數：557    裝訂：平裝

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Advance praise for Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis:
'One thinks of the great cartographers at work in reading Dr Sadler's exploration of the values embedded in current psychiatric diagnostic classifications - the DSM-IV. This is a huge, ten-year, interdisciplinary undertaking. Usually, authors who cut across disciplines are at home in one, but inexpertly borrow from the others, their extractions somewhat derivative and impoverished. But Sadler enriches as he draws on science, clinical practice, cultural analysis, the history of science and philosophy. While exposing the changes in value assumptions in each of the successive DSMs through DSM-IV, Sadler doesn't unmask and demean the profession of psychiatry, but shows how it can grow rather than devour itself in its value permutations.' -William F May, Fellow of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life, University of Virginia
'At last we have in-depth understanding of the controversies that underline the passionate disagreements about the classification of mental disorders. If there is any doubt as to why psychiatry is the most fascinating and important specialty of medicine, Dr Sadler has put that to rest with this provocative in-depth discussion of the values that are intrinsic to psychiatry.' -Steven S Sharfstein, President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association
'The long awaited volume is a worthy successor to John Sadler's ground-braking previous research on values in diagnostic classification. Impeccably argued and researched, Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis will prove an indispensable tool for anyone wishing to understand the nature, and importance, of psychiatry. In a readable, clear and unadorned style, Sadler skilfully develops his case that psychiatry is a value-saturated practice and persuades us that rather than its weakness, this is psychiatry's great strength.' -Jennifer Radden, Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusets, Boston, USA
'Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis is interdisciplinary scholarship at its best. A wide range of readers will find this work filled with insights that Sadler's lively, yet precise writing style makes readily available. Sadler's analysis is clear and compelling. In this work, complex technical questions are discussed with wit and wisdom. Sadler has managed to define the function and significance of values across the entire field of psychiatric diagnosis; he has written a reliable guide to the wide range of issues involved.' -George J Agich, Chair Bioethics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, USA

The public, mental health consumers, as well as mental health practitioners wonder about what kinds of values mental health professionals hold, and what kinds of values influence psychiatric diagnosis. Are mental disorders socio-political, practical, or scientific concepts? Is psychiatric diagnosis value-neutral? What role does the fundamental philosophical question "How should I live?" play in mental health care? In his carefully nuanced and exhaustively referenced monograph, psychiatrist and philosopher of psychiatry John Z. Sadler describes the manifold kinds of values and value judgements involved in psychiatric diagnosis and classification systems like the DSM. Professor Sadler takes the reader on a fascinating conceptual tour of the inner workings of psychiatric diagnosis, considering the role of science, culture, sexuality, politics, gender, technology, human nature, patienthood, and professions in building his vision of a more humane psychiatric diagnostic process.