Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis

Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis is the first book about how gender, race, social class, age, physical disability, and sexual orientation affect the classification of human beings into psychiatric categories. This is a hot topic addressed to the public's right to know, especially because 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.

Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., is a clinical and research psychologist, Adjunct Professor (Research) at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University, and Adjunct Professor at Washington College of Law, American University, and author of ten previous books. Lisa Cosgrove, Ph.D. is a clinical and research psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Is This Really Necessary? Part 3 Part I The Creation of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 4 The Construction Of Illness Chapter 5 The Deep Structure of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 6 Creating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study of the History, Sociology, and Politics of Psychiatric Classification Chapter 7 Abnormal Psychology Textbooks Exclude Feminist Criticism of the DSM Part 8 Part II Legal Implications of Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 9 Psychiatric Diagnosis in the Legal System Chapter 10 Bias and Subjectivity in Diagnosing Mental Retardation in Death Penalty Cases Chapter 11 What Is It That's Being Called "Parental Alienation Syndrome"? Part 12 Part III Some Forms that Bias Takes Chapter 13 The Intersection of Racism and Sexism in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 14 Clinical Cases and the Intersection of Sexism and Racism Chapter 15 Should Racism Be Classified As a Mental Illness? Chapter 16 Ageism in Psychiatric Diagnosis Chapter 17 The Psychiatric Policing of America's Children Chapter 18 Confusing Terms and False Dichotomies in Learning Disabilities Chapter 19 Diagnosis of Low-Income Women Chapter 20 Seeking "Normal" Sexuality on a Complex Matrix Chapter 21 Gender Bias and Sex Distribution of Mental Disorders in DSM-IV-TR Chapter 22 Mislabeling Anxiety and Depression in Rural Women Part 23 Part IV Specific Labels Chapter 24 Bias and Schizophrenia Chapter 25 The Truth about "False Memory Syndrome" Chapter 26 Reclaiming the Meanings of "Self-esteem" Chapter 27 Agoraphobia Chapter 28 Depression in women Chapter 29 The "Eating-Disordered" Patient Chapter 30 The Fine Line between Clinical and Subclinical Anorexia Chapter 31 Histrionic Personality Chapter 32 Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Chapter 33 Some Gender Biases in Diagnosing Traumatized Women Chapter 34 Medicalizing Menstrual Distress Part 35 Part V Moving Ahead Chapter 36 A New View of Women's Sexual Problems Chapter 37 Resisting Diagnosis Chapter 38 The Importance of Critical Inquiry Chapter 39 Some Future Contenders