Rating:
(45 reviews)
Author: Visit Amazon's Allen Frances Page
ISBN : 0062229265
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Format: PDF
Direct download links available Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life Free Download for everyone book mediafire, rapishare, and mirror link
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), produced by the American Psychiatric Association, is considered the bible of psychiatry. It establishes the border between normalcy and mental disorder. Despite its usefulness, one prominent psychiatrist laments that the DSM has become too influential. The definition of normal seems to be steadily shrinking. Frances served as head of the task force that issued the fourth DSM. He worries that the new DSM-5 (which cost $25 million to produce) will further inflate psychiatric diagnosis, resulting in additional overmedication. Already, 20 percent of American adults take one drug or more for a psychiatric condition. About 11 percent of adults used antidepressants in 2010. And prescriptions for antipsychotic medicines have doubled in a decade. Frances frets that the DSM-5 will spawn faddish diagnoses—much like its predecessor, which created false epidemics of attention deficit, autism, and childhood bipolar disorder. This time around, look out for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, which morphs temper tantrums into a mental illness, and Minor Neurocognitive Disorder, which turns the forgetfulness of aging into a mental disorder. With Solomon-like wisdom, Frances justly doles out blame and offers reasonable remedies. His decree: don’t medicalize human difference; celebrate it. --Tony Miksanek
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
“Frances delves deeply into the history of mental illness, makes his arguements crisply, and has good personal stories to tell. He’s articulate and learned. ... He’s in favor of not medicating, and thus muffling, all the offbeat pain and beauty out of existance. ... [A] piece of intellectual skywriting.” (Dwight Garner, New York Times)
“An extraordinarily candid and important book. Allen Frances has written a fascinating account of the apparent explosion in psychiatric disorders in the United States. (MARCIA ANGELL, M. D., Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief,
New England Journal of Medicine)
“
Saving Normal is a riveting and important book, written with great flair and precise passion. This is a book every psychiatrist, every general practitioner, every student swallowing meds--in fact everyone--needs to read.” (Dr. LISA APPIGNANESI, Chair of the Freud Museum, London, and author of
Mad, Bad and Sad)
“Frances is largely credited with spearheading the anti-DSM-5 efforts.” (CNN.com)
“
Saving Normal is a clear, convincing, and essential discussion of the twin epidemics facing modern psychiatry: under-treatment of the truly ill and overtreatment of the basically well. It holds immense potential to improve patients’ lives.” (JOSH BAZELL, M.D.,
New York Times bestselling author of
Beat the Reaper: A Novel)
“Few are as well-equipped as Frances to map the dynamic field of psychiatry, and his rendering of its shifting contours is timely, crucial, and insightful--as are his solutions for navigating it.” (Publishers Weekly)
“With Solomon-like wisdom, Frances justly doles out blame and offers reasonable remedies. His decree: don’t medicalize human difference; celebrate it.” (Booklist (starred review))
“A valuable assessment. ... A no-holds-barred critique.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“An indispensable guide for professional and lay readers” (Library Journal)
“Allen Frances’s book is fascinating. ... Entertaining.” (Metapsychology)
“Authoritative. ... Valuable. ... This is a detailed, nicely constructed account by a highly qualified and well-connected psychiatrist with intimate knowledge of the process. The book is clearly written and surprisingly easy reading.” (The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists)
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Direct download links available for Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life Paperback Free Download
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 12, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0062229265
- ISBN-13: 978-0062229267
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life Free Download
Saving Normal, written by Allen Frances, Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force should be bundled and sold with every edition of the DSM V.
Dr Frances, who has worked for 20 years on the updated editions of the DSM, including DSM-III, DSM-IIIR and DSM-IV is not an outsider. He knows what he is talking about. And he is sounding the alarm.
He believes that those who desperately need psychiatric help are being neglected while others who don't need it are given diagnoses when there's nothing `wrong' with them and their issues are transitory.
Saving Normal should required reading for every therapist who diagnoses clients and for every client or potential client/patient who plans on using their health insurance benefits for mental health concerns or treatment.
In Saving Normal, Dr Frances warns about the mislabeling and diagnosing of normal problems and issues in daily living, as mental illness; he cautions about false diagnoses and potentially harmful and unnecessary prescriptions of psychotropic medications.
`Loose diagnosis' he says, `is causing a national drug overdose of medication.'
This diagnostic inflation impacts millions of people who are receiving unnecessary treatment and who believe they are suffering with a mental illness, when they are not.
Dr. Frances explores the creation of the first DSM, what's normal and what's not, psychiatric fads of the past and present (notably Attention Deficit Disorder, Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Autism, Bipolar II and shyness, diagnosed as `Social Phobia.) and the impact and influence of drug manufacturers on doctors and diagnoses.
Dr. Frances talks about how labels have changed.