BOOK FORUM
Schuyler W. Henderson,
MD, MPH
Assistant Editor
Battle Royale t was bad enough before, but in the year leading up to the publication of the new edition of the DSM and in the weeks surrounding its release, you couldn’t spit near an editorial, commentary, or letter to the editor without hitting a comparison of the DSM to the Bible. True, there are a few similarities: both are thick-volume texts, and both have been revised over time by committees that are certain of the objective existence of the elusive concept they wish to describe. However, there are some crucial differences. Dissent from the DSM is not heresy or blasphemy, it’s de rigueur; the DSM does not lay out a path to psychiatric salvation; the Bible, unlike the DSM, says a lot about childhood; and, of course, the Bible can be wonderfully poetic. It would take a very savvy wordsmith to turn the DSM’s prose and lists into poetry. So, why do references to the Bible keep popping up in DSM-related rhetoric? It’s not an innocent comparison. It is a sneer, implying that psychiatry has a dogma and orthodoxy that cannot be challenged, and that its ostensibly organizing text is a work of religion to be dutifully believed. Worse, it is a lazy comparison between “important” books: to measure the 2 against each other is to erase the extent to which the DSM really is central or peripheral to psychiatric understanding (or, more interestingly, both, at the same time). So, besides noting the widespread use of a casually prejudicial comparison, what else can we say about the rhetorical response to the DSM? Blogs, editorials, and articles seethed and bristled with indignation, hurt feelings, temper tantrums, and scorn (most of which are now symptoms in the DSM-5). Can a book do better? Can it convey more than the general concern trolling so common in mental health controversies? This month Marika Wrzosek, Carlene MacMillan, Myo Thwin Myint, and Stacy Drury tackle a pair of books that elbowed their way into the cultural spotlight focused on the American Psychiatric Association’s bestseller.
I
The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry. By Gary Greenberg. New York: Blue Rider Press; 2013.
O
ver a decade in the making, the DSM-5 generated and continues to generate impassioned discussions within our field and in the lay press. In The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, Gary Greenberg, PhD, a practicing psychotherapist, adds his distinct voice to this lively conversation. He provides a behind-the-scenes account of how the DSM-5 came to be and who the key players were. He does not mince words in suggesting that its creation was marred by infighting, bureaucracy, and political machinations associated with the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the book’s publisher. At its core, The Book of Woe is a work of historical nonfiction, and it certainly provides entertainment value to what, at first glance, might seem like a rather dry, academic topic. Greenberg relates the trials and tribulations preceding the release of the DSM-5 based on a series of interviews with key players in the process. However, like all nonfiction, it is written from a given perspective, and Greenberg has certainly generated a work of sensational nonfiction. This is not to say he is inaccurate in his depiction of the controversies surrounding the revamping of the DSM-IV to create a new and, one hopes, improved DSM; but his depiction of the battle is not immune to biases, particularly of those in the field who granted him a backstage pass to the battleground. Greenberg is a skeptical storyteller, and his tone is peppered with dry wit and a generally easy-to-read style when he is not too caught up in
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF C HILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY VOLUME 53 NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
www.jaacap.org
1031
Schuyler W. Henderson,
MD, MPH
Assistant Editor
Battle Royale t was bad enough before, but in the year leading up to the publication of the new edition of the DSM and in the weeks surrounding its release, you couldn’t spit near an editorial, commentary, or letter to the editor without hitting a comparison of the DSM to the Bible. True, there are a few similarities: both are thick-volume texts, and both have been revised over time by committees that are certain of the objective existence of the elusive concept they wish to describe. However, there are some crucial differences. Dissent from the DSM is not heresy or blasphemy, it’s de rigueur; the DSM does not lay out a path to psychiatric salvation; the Bible, unlike the DSM, says a lot about childhood; and, of course, the Bible can be wonderfully poetic. It would take a very savvy wordsmith to turn the DSM’s prose and lists into poetry. So, why do references to the Bible keep popping up in DSM-related rhetoric? It’s not an innocent comparison. It is a sneer, implying that psychiatry has a dogma and orthodoxy that cannot be challenged, and that its ostensibly organizing text is a work of religion to be dutifully believed. Worse, it is a lazy comparison between “important” books: to measure the 2 against each other is to erase the extent to which the DSM really is central or peripheral to psychiatric understanding (or, more interestingly, both, at the same time). So, besides noting the widespread use of a casually prejudicial comparison, what else can we say about the rhetorical response to the DSM? Blogs, editorials, and articles seethed and bristled with indignation, hurt feelings, temper tantrums, and scorn (most of which are now symptoms in the DSM-5). Can a book do better? Can it convey more than the general concern trolling so common in mental health controversies? This month Marika Wrzosek, Carlene MacMillan, Myo Thwin Myint, and Stacy Drury tackle a pair of books that elbowed their way into the cultural spotlight focused on the American Psychiatric Association’s bestseller.
I
The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry. By Gary Greenberg. New York: Blue Rider Press; 2013.
O
ver a decade in the making, the DSM-5 generated and continues to generate impassioned discussions within our field and in the lay press. In The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, Gary Greenberg, PhD, a practicing psychotherapist, adds his distinct voice to this lively conversation. He provides a behind-the-scenes account of how the DSM-5 came to be and who the key players were. He does not mince words in suggesting that its creation was marred by infighting, bureaucracy, and political machinations associated with the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the book’s publisher. At its core, The Book of Woe is a work of historical nonfiction, and it certainly provides entertainment value to what, at first glance, might seem like a rather dry, academic topic. Greenberg relates the trials and tribulations preceding the release of the DSM-5 based on a series of interviews with key players in the process. However, like all nonfiction, it is written from a given perspective, and Greenberg has certainly generated a work of sensational nonfiction. This is not to say he is inaccurate in his depiction of the controversies surrounding the revamping of the DSM-IV to create a new and, one hopes, improved DSM; but his depiction of the battle is not immune to biases, particularly of those in the field who granted him a backstage pass to the battleground. Greenberg is a skeptical storyteller, and his tone is peppered with dry wit and a generally easy-to-read style when he is not too caught up in
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF C HILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY VOLUME 53 NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
www.jaacap.org
1031
