Download Free The Book Of Woe Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Book Of Woe and write the review.

“Gary Greenberg has become the Dante of our psychiatric age, and the DSM-5 is his Inferno.” —Errol Morris Since its debut in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has set down the “official” view on what constitutes mental illness. Homosexuality, for instance, was a mental illness until 1973. Each revision has created controversy, but the DSM-5 has taken fire for encouraging doctors to diagnose more illnesses—and to prescribe sometimes unnecessary or harmful medications. Respected author and practicing psychotherapist Gary Greenberg embedded himself in the war that broke out over the fifth edition, and returned with an unsettling tale. Exposing the deeply flawed process behind the DSM-5’s compilation, The Book of Woe reveals how the manual turns suffering into a commodity—and made the APA its own biggest beneficiary.
A riveting exposé of the psychiatric profession’s bible from leading psychotherapist Gary Greenberg, The Book of Woe reveals the deeply flawed process by which mental disorders are invented and uninvented — and how suffering has been turned into a commodity. Since its first edition in 1952, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been regarded as the leading authority on mental-health diagnosis and research. Over the DSM’s various iterations, however, debate has raged over which psychological problems constitute mental illness: homosexuality, for instance, was a mental illness until 1973; and Asperger’s gained recognition in 1994 only to see its status challenged nearly twenty years later. By examining the history of the DSM and the controversies over its latest revisions, Greenberg challenges the status quo of modern psychiatric practice. He shows how difficult it is — even impossible — to rigorously differentiate mental illness from everyday suffering; and sheds light on how the politics behind mental-health classification has caused diagnosis rates of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder to skyrocket. Drawing on interviews with people on all sides of the debate, on historical examples, and on case studies from his own practice, Greenberg ultimately argues for a more humanistic approach to psychiatry. A combination of lively reportage and biting analysis, The Book of Woe will prove invaluable for expert and casual readers alike.
Am I depressed or just unhappy? In the last two decades, antidepressants have become staples of our medicine cabinets—doctors now write 120 million prescriptions annually, at a cost of more than 10 billion dollars. At the same time, depression rates have skyrocketed; twenty percent of Americans are now expected to suffer from it during their lives. Doctors, and drug companies, claim that this convergence is a public health triumph: the recognition and treatment of an under-diagnosed illness. Gary Greenberg, a practicing therapist and longtime depressive, raises a more disturbing possibility: that the disease has been manufactured to suit (and sell) the cure. Greenberg draws on sources ranging from the Bible to current medical journals to show how the idea that unhappiness is an illness has been packaged and sold by brilliant scientists and shrewd marketing experts—and why it has been so successful. Part memoir, part intellectual history, part exposé—including a vivid chronicle of his participation in a clinical antidepressant trial—Manufacturing Depression is an incisive look at an epidemic that has changed the way we have come to think of ourselves.
From "the most powerful psychiatrist in America" (New York Times) and "the man who wrote the book on mental illness" (Wired), a deeply fascinating and urgently important critique of the widespread medicalization of normality Anyone living a full, rich life experiences ups and downs, stresses, disappointments, sorrows, and setbacks. These challenges are a normal part of being human, and they should not be treated as psychiatric disease. However, today millions of people who are really no more than "worried well" are being diagnosed as having a mental disorder and are receiving unnecessary treatment. In Saving Normal, Allen Frances, one of the world's most influential psychiatrists, warns that mislabeling everyday problems as mental illness has shocking implications for individuals and society: stigmatizing a healthy person as mentally ill leads to unnecessary, harmful medications, the narrowing of horizons, misallocation of medical resources, and draining of the budgets of families and the nation. We also shift responsibility for our mental well-being away from our own naturally resilient and self-healing brains, which have kept us sane for hundreds of thousands of years, and into the hands of "Big Pharma," who are reaping multi-billion-dollar profits. Frances cautions that the new edition of the "bible of psychiatry," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5), will turn our current diagnostic inflation into hyperinflation by converting millions of "normal" people into "mental patients." Alarmingly, in DSM-5, normal grief will become "Major Depressive Disorder"; the forgetting seen in old age is "Mild Neurocognitive Disorder"; temper tantrums are "Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder"; worrying about a medical illness is "Somatic Symptom Disorder"; gluttony is "Binge Eating Disorder"; and most of us will qualify for adult "Attention Deficit Disorder." What's more, all of these newly invented conditions will worsen the cruel paradox of the mental health industry: those who desperately need psychiatric help are left shamefully neglected, while the "worried well" are given the bulk of the treatment, often at their own detriment. Masterfully charting the history of psychiatric fads throughout history, Frances argues that whenever we arbitrarily label another aspect of the human condition a "disease," we further chip away at our human adaptability and diversity, dulling the full palette of what is normal and losing something fundamental of ourselves in the process. Saving Normal is a call to all of us to reclaim the full measure of our humanity.
"The governor of Colorado tells his story, from early loss to college on the ten-year plan, to business and political success"--
Lilac is a girl of eight, or ten, or twelve years old- she's not sure. She lives happily in the woods until she meets a Troll who begins introducing her to new ideas (Lilac & the Troll). Nelson is just another normal first year at Cambridge when he begins to have visions of one of England's most famous statesmen. Why him and what must he do to make the hauntings stop? (Oliver Cromwell's Head). Enjoy these and other short stories that give you a sense of the surreal-- while leaving you to ponder life's great lessons. Characters journey through real-- and not so real-- life situations, where they must choose right from wrong, true from untrue, good or bad, and love over hate. Other stories include: "The Pitiful Tale of Rosemary Pickering," "Transfiguration in the Blind Forest," & "The Jovial Story of Anges and the Great Pestilence," among others.
Max is not keen about staying at his Aunt Ida's house, and when the ghost of her long-dead son, Woe, begins to torment him he decides to take his chances on the nearby mountain, even though it is night--but the ghost pursues him, and how the adventure ends is up to the reader to choose.
True stories of totally undeserved suffering. Spectacularly depressing. Nobody gets their just deserts. Crushing defeats. No happy endings. Abject misery. Pointless, endless grief. No lessons of temperance or moderation. No saving grace. No divine intervention. No salvation. Sin, suffering, redemption. That's the movie, that's the front page news, that's the story of popular culture-of American culture. A ray of hope. A comeuppance. An all-for-the-best. Makes it easier to deal with the world's misery-to know that there's a reason behind it, that it'll always work out in the end, that people get what they deserve. The fact: sometimes people suffer for no reason. No sin, no redemption-just suffering, suffering, suffering. Tales of Woe compiles today's most awful narratives of human wretchedness. This is not Hollywood catharsis (someone overcomes something and the viewer is uplifted), this is the katharsis of Ancient Greece: you watch people suffer horribly, and then feel better about your own life. Tales of Woe tells stories of murder, accident, depravity, cruelty, and senseless unhappiness: and all true. The Tales: strange, unexpected, morbidly enticing. Told straight-with elegance, restraint, and simplicity. The design: a one-of-kind white text on black paper, fluidly readable, and coupled with fifty pages of full-color art.
Diagnosing Mental Illness -- The Initial DSMs -- The Path to a Diagnostic Revolution -- The DSM-III -- The DSM-IIIR and DSM-IV -- The DSM-5's Failed Revolution -- The DSM as a Social Creation.