Making Us Crazy: DSM: The Psychiatric Bible and the Creation of Mental Disorders
Used by doctors and therapists all around the country, the American Psychiatric Association'sDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordersis the closest thing America has to a bible of  mental illness. Currently in its fourth edition, the DSM (as it's commonly called) classifies more than 200  disorders and their symptoms, from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Generalized Anxiety Disorder and  everything in between. In so doing, say Herb Kutchins and Stuart Kirk, theDSMapplies the  language of mental illness to everyday behavior, transforming ordinary reactions to life's vicissitudes into  billable pathology.InMaking Us Crazy, Kutchins and Kirk have used 15 years of studying theDSMto  produce a lengthy diatribe against its ever-growing list of psychiatric disorders and their overly inclusive  symptoms, including bad handwriting, impulsive shopping sprees, and reckless driving. TheDSM,  they contend, is most influenced by the needs of the insurance industry; every illness comes with its own  diagnostic code, widely used for insurance claim forms. Moreover, its choices of which disorders to include  and exclude are widely influenced by social prejudices as well as special interests. Given theDSM's list of diagnostic criteria, it is possible to classify almost anyone with objectionable views  or behavior that deviates from social norms as "crazy." But in doing so, any mental-health  professional would be acting irresponsibly by ignoring the behavior's context--the one factor a reference  such as theDSMcannot quantify.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.