Creating Mental Illness

In this surprising book, Allan V. Horwitz argues that our current conceptions of mental illness as a disease fit only a small number of serious psychological conditions & that most conditions currently regarded as mental illness are cultural constructions, normal reactions to stressful social circumstances, or simply forms of deviant behavior. 

"Thought-provoking & important. . . Drawing on & consolidating the ideas of a range of authors, Horwitz challenges the existing use of the term  & the psychiatric ideas & practices on which this usage is based. . . . Horwitz enters this controversial territory with confidence, conviction, & clarity." — Joan Busfield, American Journal of Sociology 

"Horwitz properly identifies the financial incentives that urge therapists & drug companies to proliferate psychiatric diagnostic categories. He correctly identifies the stranglehold that psychiatric diagnosis has on research funding in mental health. Above all, he provides a sorely needed counterpoint to the most strident advocates of disease-model psychiatry." — Mark Sullivan, Journal of the American Medical Association 

"Horwitz makes at least two major contributions to our understanding of mental disorders. First, he eloquently draws on evidence from the biological & social sciences to create a balanced, integrative approach to the study of mental disorders. Second, in accomplishing the first contribution, he provides a fascinating history of the study & treatment of mental disorders. . . from early asylum work to the rise of modern biological psychiatry." — Debra Umberson, Quarterly Review of Biology