Medicine over mind : mental health practice in the biomedical era / Dena T. Smith

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: Under the influence of the biomedical era -- From meaning making to medicalization -- Practitioner portraits and pathways to practice -- The promise of 'imperfect communication' and the 'prison' of rigid categorization : the DSM in practice -- Etiological considerations and the tools of the trade : the role of medication and talk therapy in practice -- The consequences of the biomedical model for practice and practitioners : psychodynamic therapy in a biomedical world -- Conclusion: The dangling conversation : ambiguity in mental health practice -- Appendix: Notes on the method and sample

"We live in an era in which medicalization--the process of conceptualizing and treating a wide range of human experiences as medical problems in need of medical treatment--of mental health troubles has been settled for several decades. Yet little is known about how this biomedical framework affects practitioners' experiences. Using interviews with forty-three practitioners in the New York City area, this book offers insight into how the medical model maintains its dominant role in mental health treatment. Smith explores how practitioners grapple with available treatment models, and make sense of a field that has shifted rapidly in just a few decades. This is a book about practitioners working in a medicalized field; for some practitioners this is a straightforward and relatively tension-free existence while for others, who believe in and practice in-depth talk therapy, the biomedical perspective is much more challenging and causes personal and professional strains."-- Provided by publisher