Classifying Madness: A Philosophical Examination of the Diagnostic and Statistic

Rachel Cooper, "Classifying Madness: A Philosophical Examination of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"

Springer | 2005 | ISBN: 1402033443 | 172 pages | PDF | 2 MB

The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" is important, but it is also controversial. While its publishers claim that the D.S.M. is a scientific classification system based on sound data, many have doubts. Big business has interests in the D.S.M. Perhaps the D.S.M. has been distorted by pressures stemming from insurance companies, or from pharmaceutical companies? Others are concerned that whether a condition is classified as a mental disorder depends too greatly on social and political factors. More conceptual worries are also frequent. If classification requires a theory, and if mental disorders are poorly understood, then a sound classification system may be presently unobtainable. Possibly even attempting to construct a classification system that "cuts nature at the joints" is conceptually naïve. Maybe types of mental disorder are radically unlike, say, chemical elements, and simply fail to have a natural structure.

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