In Bipolar Imperialism, author Joel Paris discusses the over-diagnosis of bipolar disorder and the negative impact of this trend on clinical care. The book opens with a careful review of scientific evidence that verifies that diagnoses of bipolar disorder are often made on dubious grounds. Included in this discussion is a review of the drugs patients are prescribed, along with an overview of other treatments from which they could benefit. Paris then moves into a discussion of the clinical presentations of bipolar-I and --II to demonstrate that they should not be used to explain psychopathological phenomena, including depression, personality and behavioral disorders, and substance abuse and eating disorders. The last section of the text ties all of the ideas together and places the over-diagnosis of bipolar disorder in the larger context of fads to which psychiatry has long been prone.
Table of Contents:
Introduction. Part I: Concepts. The Bipolar Diagnosis. "Diagnostic Creep" in the Bipolar Spectrum. Affective Instability. Part II: Disorders. Differential Diagnosis of Unstable Mood. Bipolarity and Personality Disorders. Bipolarity and Childhood Behavioral Disorders. Part III: Implications. How Psychiatric Fads Develop. The Impact of Overdiagnosis.
About the Author :
Joel Paris, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University. He is also a Research Associate at the SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, and heads personality clinics at two hospitals. He is Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Review :
“We are in the midst of a mania for Bipolar Disorders that rivals any of the stock market manias of recent years. … Joel Paris’ Bipolar Spectrum is for anyone negotiating mental health care today but also should alert everyone else to a growing lunacy at the heart of modern healthcare.” - David Healy, Professor of Psychiatry, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
“A must read for every psychiatrist who treats bipolar disorder and wants to better understand the risks of the bipolar spectrum concept. Dr. Paris identifies the conceptual and empirical limitations of the bipolar spectrum and the salesmen who have oversold the data.” - Mark Zimmerman, MD, Director, Outpatient Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital; Associate Professor, Brown Medical School, USA
“…In this deceptively provocative book on the bipolar spectrum, distinguished clinical academic Joel Paris masterfully charts the current climate change of diagnostic creep and the consequential ‘soft psychiatry,’ dissecting determinants of psychiatric imperialism that risk blurring illness with normality.” - Professor Gordon Parker, Executive Director, Black Dog Institute; Scentia Professor, School of Psychiatry, The University of New South Wales, Australia
