The public has a right to know that when they go to a therapist, they
are almost certain to be given a psychiatric diagnosis, no matter how
mild or normal their problems might be. It is unlikely that they will be
told that a diagnosis will be written forever in their chart and that
alarming consequences can result solely from having any psychiatric
diagnosis. It would be disturbing enough if diagnosis was a thoroughly
scientific process, but it is not, and its unscientific nature creates a
vacuum into which biases of all kinds can rush. Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis
is the first book ever published about how gender, race, social class,
age, physical disability, and sexual orientation affect the
classification of human beings into categories of psychiatric diagnosis.
It is surprising that this kind of book is not yet on the market,
because it is such a hot topic, and the negative consequences of
psychiatric diagnosis range from loss of custody of a child to denial of
health insurance and employment to removal of one’s right to make
decisions about one’s legal affairs. It is an unusually compelling book
because of its real-life relevance for millions of people. Virtually
everyone these days has been a therapy patient or has a loved one who
has been. In addition, psychiatric diagnosis and biases in diagnosis are
increasingly crucial portions of, or the main subject of, legal
proceedings. This book should sit next to every doctor’s PDR, especially
given the skyrocketing use of psychoactive drugs in toddlers, children,
and adolescents, as well as in adults, and especially because receiving
a psychiatric label vastly increases the chances of being prescribed
one or more of these drugs.
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