Episode 17: "What is a Mental Disorder?" with Jerome Wakefield, PhD

Making Therapy Better
Making Therapy Better
237
0
Published 2024-07-15
Jerome Wakefield, PhD is a Professor of Social Work at New York University as well as a member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, and has sat on editorial boards for the Clinical Social Work Journal and Evolutionary Psychology. He is the author of more than 300 publications appearing in journals in psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and social work, and a number of books, including The loss of sadness: How psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder, which was named Best Psychology Book of 2007 by the Association of American Publishers

In this episode, Bruce and Jerome talk about the history of the DSM and psychiatric diagnosis, and Jerome’s working definition of mental disorder as a harmful deviation from biologically designed functioning. They also touch on the fact that a large portion of people who benefit from psychotherapy are not actually suffering from a diagnosable disorder. Jerome criticizes the current system that requires a diagnosis for insurance reimbursement and the difficult ethical situation this forces clinicians into. Finally, they discuss more generally the problems caused by the medicalization of mental health care and how to move forward.


Follow Making Therapy Better on

Instagram: www.instagram.com/making_therapy_better/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/makingtherapybetter

Twitter: twitter.com/therapybetter

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/9223245/


The intro and outro music is the Borromeo String Quartet performing Beethoven's "String Quartet No. 3 in D Major"


www.makingtherapybetter.com/


Making Therapy Better is sponsored by CarePaths www.carepaths.com/
All Comments (3)
  • @arthurroski8546
    This was a terrific conversation—and the television anecdote is astounding (so much could be said there). Would love to see another installment.