Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis

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If Values and Psychiatric Diagnosis, John Z. Sadler’s brilliant tour de force, is any yardstick of the intellectual health of contemporary psychiatry, the field is alive and well. When I received this book for review, I must admit initially feeling intimidated— its 470 pages of mostly 10-point type, focusing on a philosophical analysis of the "values" underpinning the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), each chapter capped by extensive endnotes, topped off with an additional nearly 50 pages of references, seemed like a burden. However, as I got into the book, I quickly realized that it was a great gift.