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kedawen's review
3.0
Interesting info about the push to add anxiety-related disorders to the DSM in the 1980s, but it felt a little biased, drawn out and too heavy on statistics. I think if he had included more real life examples of people struggling to be diagnosed correctly or living with anxiety (and not so many from movies?) it would have helped. Again, I will mention the fact that a lot of nonfiction books really need some help with outlining and organizing so the book flows better (why do authors use so many page breaks?!).
theangrylawngnome's review
4.0
If this book does nothing else, it at least makes you think. Doubtless the author has his biases, particularly leaning toward Freud, but the story of how DSM-II became DSM-III (and IV and soon V) makes for appalling reading. It is not that the triumph of the "neo-Kraepelins," essentially the school of thought that all mental illness has some sort of physical cause, would particularly bother me (though it certainly does the author), it is the "palace coup" method of how their ideas came to the fore, and essentially have a stranglehold on psychiatry and psychology these days. Had it come about in a different fashion, via empirical methodology, I'd have no real problems with their model. But it has not, at least per Lane, and he quotes enough sources to make the claim a credible one.
Misc, grab-bag thoughts:
͏ The Drug Company/Research Lab connection Lane posits has no real "smoking gun," but I'm now inclined to accept that something along those lines exist. They got the $$$, the researchers want to research.
͏ It will be interesting to see if DSM-V addresses Lane's point of diagnosis overlap, either by tightening the definitions of conditions or dropping some entirely. I do know that the Asperger's Community is up in arms over the elimination of this term, and its repackaging as some sort of Autism Spectrum condition...I guess being diagnosed as an Aspie I should weigh in with some sort of opinion here, but I'm honestly not so sure the change doesn't make sense. It may not, but it just may.
͏ I'm going to have to dig into withdrawal problems, since I'm on all kinds of crap, for all kinds of conditions.
͏ The copies of the ads, particularly the ones from the '70s and earlier, were both funny and scary. At least in retrospect. I guess funny can't really apply during the time period they ran.
͏ Lane doesn't really seem to offer much in the way of a solution to this whole business. Doesn't detract from the rest of the work, but he certainly has no problem with being judgmental page by page. Surprised it is missing.
Misc, grab-bag thoughts:
͏ The Drug Company/Research Lab connection Lane posits has no real "smoking gun," but I'm now inclined to accept that something along those lines exist. They got the $$$, the researchers want to research.
͏ It will be interesting to see if DSM-V addresses Lane's point of diagnosis overlap, either by tightening the definitions of conditions or dropping some entirely. I do know that the Asperger's Community is up in arms over the elimination of this term, and its repackaging as some sort of Autism Spectrum condition...I guess being diagnosed as an Aspie I should weigh in with some sort of opinion here, but I'm honestly not so sure the change doesn't make sense. It may not, but it just may.
͏ I'm going to have to dig into withdrawal problems, since I'm on all kinds of crap, for all kinds of conditions.
͏ The copies of the ads, particularly the ones from the '70s and earlier, were both funny and scary. At least in retrospect. I guess funny can't really apply during the time period they ran.
͏ Lane doesn't really seem to offer much in the way of a solution to this whole business. Doesn't detract from the rest of the work, but he certainly has no problem with being judgmental page by page. Surprised it is missing.
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