Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis

Clinical and research psychologists Caplan (Brown U.) and Cosgrove (U. of Massachusetts) find it alarming that the authors of abnormal psychiatry textbooks entirely ignore the extensive critical literature on bias in the influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They provide a broad overview of the literature in the form of 32 papers on bias in diagnostic labeling. The papers examine the creation of bias in diagnosis, the legal implications, forms of bias found in psychiatric diagnosis, bias in specific labels, and solutions to the problem. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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.