"Make Believes" in Psychiatry or the Perils of Progress

In this book, a psychiatrist critically assesses the recent biological and psychological revolutions in psychiatry. Dr van Praag presents an evaluation of the past three decades' advances (1960s to 1990s) fully acknowledging the positive aspects, but drawing due attention to the pitfalls. He demonstrates the advantages and limitations of the standardized diagnostic system of psychiatric disorders encompassed in the taxonomy of the DSM-III and DSM-III-R. He critiques the ever-expanding system of discrete and defined "disorders" and suggests that some of these entities are "make-believes in psychiatry". He also explains how the diagnostic process can be improverished by overreliance on easily objectifiable phenomena at the expense of the subjective domains of psychopathology.