Beyond the DSM Story

Book excerpt: "Among many of the ethical issues clinicians encounter in their practice, diagnosing someone with a given mental disorder just for the purpose of reimbursement of services is perhaps the number one ethical dilemma. This book is an outstanding review of the conceptual and empirical literature on this particular dilemma. But the most important contribution of this book is that it provides an extensive discussion of clinical strategies and case vignettes that clinicians could use in diagnosing mental disorder and as the same time attending to ethical standards governing their discipline." —Freddy A. Paniagu, University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston "Eriksen and Kress offer a well-formulated discussion of problems with the American Psychiatric Association′s The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disoders (DSM), Including almost 800 references, this volume covers the literature in the field extremely well." —W.P. Anderson, CHOICE Beyond the DSM Story presents challenges to the Diagnostic Statistical Model (DSM) system from ethical and cultural perspectives, critically evaluating its fit with other professional and theoretical orientations. It offers possible solutions or best practices for addressing ethical, theoretical, and contextual quandaries, along with experiential activities that challenge the reader to think critically about both the problems and the solutions associated with DSM diagnosis. Beyond the DSM Story presents an atheoretical model for incorporating alternative models with DSM assessment. Instructors, students and practitioners will benefit from this critical appraisal of the DSM. Features • Addresses the philosophical discrepancies between a medical model, DSM assessment approach, and most helping philosophies. • provides a thorough framework for utilizing the DSM in a contextually sensitive fashion • Comprehensively reviews the challenges to the DSM system, particularly multicultural and feminist challenges and addressing ethical concerns related to using the DSM system • Provides case studies and experiential/interactive activities that challenge the reader to consider the DSM from a contextual perspective