A Dose of Sanity: Mind, Medicine, and Misdiagnosis

Many psychiatrists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) produced by the American Psychiatric Association as not only their bible but also their daily practice manual. Walker, a psychiatrist himself, points out that the DSM has encouraged practitioners to label patients quickly rather than pursue the more time-consuming, deductive work of differential diagnosis. Labeling leads to fitting patients willy-nilly into groups rather than treating them as the individuals they are by carefully taking medical histories and performing physical examinations. Walker presents many appalling examples of patients who were routinely assigned DSM labels that then became masks for such often dangerous physical diseases as bowel blockage, lupus, brain tumors, and Tourette's and Klinefelter's syndromes. One case that leaps out is that of a Holocaust survivor who, diagnosed with severe depression, in reality had recrudescent typhus. Furthering his indictment, Walker stresses that many of the masked diseases are treatable if caught early and that many of the drugs psychiatrists prescribe are dangerous or addictive. William Beatty

"Bravo to Dr. Sydney Walker. He has written a masterful book for current and prospective mental health consumers. Before filling a prescription for Prozac or Ritalin, make sure you get A Dose of Sanity."--Charles B. Inlander President, People's Medical Society

Has your child been labeled hyperactive?

Has your parent been diagnosed with senile dementia?

Did your doctor prescribe Prozac for your so-called depression?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you need A Dose of Sanity.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans who are actually suffering from common medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, Lyme disease, and even poor nutrition are misdiagnosed with psychiatric disorders. Studies show that the rate of misdiagnosis is more than 4 in 10.

In this powerful book, practicing psychiatrist Dr. Sydney Walker explains why psychiatric misdiagnosis is so common. More importantly, he helps you and those you love avoid the misdiagnosis trap. Dr. Walker's unique 24-Hour-Day Profile lets you track physical and emotional changes over the course of a day to give your physician valuable clues to what your symptoms really mean.

Walker, director of Southern California's Neuropsychiatric Institute, here argues that clinicians should not rely exclusively on standard psychiatric labels. He contends that labels such as depression, hyperactivity, etc., often hide medically treatable disorders. He notes a trend in psychiatry to lump individuals under broad categorical labels, e.g., mental retardation, which often obscures the specific problems. Drawing upon 30 years of clinical experience, he cites cases illustrating the fallibility of psychiatric labeling. Walker writes that the current diagnostic system survives because of its support from the American Psychiatric Association, drug companies, and managed care providers. This thought-provoking book is an effective complement to Peter Kramer's Listening to Prozac (LJ 5/1/93). Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Dennis Glenn Twiggs, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An incisive attack on the American Psychiatric Association that cuts to the quick. Walker (Help for the Hyperactive Child, 1978), a neurologist as well as a psychiatrist, contends that few psychiatrists perform the medical detective work necessary to evaluate their patients, but instead assign them a label from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), a catalog of disorders and symptoms published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The DSM, which has undergone increasing scrutiny and controversy in recent years, is not the result of careful scientific research, Walker says, but a constantly changing political document reflecting its APA panel members' personal biases and beliefs. Most psychiatrists, he asserts, do not like the hands-on practice of medicine and are more comfortable assigning a DSM label to a patient's symptoms and then writing a prescription or recommending psychotherapy. They have, in his words, ``replaced the science of diagnosis with the pseudoscience of labeling.'' Psychiatrists who rely on DSM labeling overlook symptoms of actual brain dysfunction that may respond to proper medical treatment, Walker asserts, and he includes numerous examples of patients with brain tumors, Tourette's syndrome, lead poisoning, and other medical problems whose disorders were misdiagnosed and consequently mistreated before they came to him. Besides the harm they do to their patients, he contends, DSM-reliant psychiatrists fall behind the progress being made in other areas of medicine such as genetics, molecular biology, and immunology. Walker blames the APA, which sets the standards for psychiatric training, as well as insurers, psychiatric hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry for fostering a situation in which psychiatrists are not truly acting as doctors, and patients are misdiagnosed and unnecessarily drugged. While urging his colleagues to rebel against the DSM, he offers advice to patients on how to demand proper care. A dose of strong medicine for the psychiatric profession. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In this fascinating book a practicing psychiatrist explains how psychiatric symptoms often mask medical disorders. This important issue is vividly illustrated in a number of intriguing case histories--such as a businessman, who was labeled as depressed, but really had syphilis. To help readers protect themselves from this kind of misdiagnosis, the author provides a detailed "24-hour a Day Chart" which they can use to track their behaviors and activities in order to shed light on what may be an easily treatable underlying medical problem.

A Dose of Sanity

If you are currently being treated for depression, anxiety, or panic disorder, this book could save your life. If you have a family member or friend who has been diagnosed as suffering from attention deficit disorder, a sleeping disorder, or any of a wide array of common behavioral disorders, you owe it to them to read this book.

"A brilliant exposé of the scandalous failure of modern psychiatry . . . If your doctor recommends Prozac, Xanax, Ritalin, or psychotherapy for your 'mental' problems, READ THIS BOOK FIRST. It just might save your life."

Has your child been labeled hyperactive?

• Has your parent been diagnosed with senile dementia?
• Did your doctor prescribe Prozac for your so-called depression?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you need to read A Dose of Sanity. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans who are actually suffering from common medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, Lyme disease, and even poor nutrition, are misdiagnosed with psychiatric disorders. In this powerful book, Dr. Sydney Walker, a practicing psychiatrist, explains why psychiatric misdiagnosis is so common. And, more importantly, he shows you how you can make sure that you, and those you love, avoid the trap of misdiagnosis.

SYDNEY WALKER III, M.D.,is a board-certified neuropsychiatrist, Director of the Southern California Neu-ropsychiatric Institute, and founder of Behavioral Neurology International. His other books include Help for the Hyperactive Child and Psychiatric Signs and Symptoms Due to Medical Problems. His articles frequently appear in both professional and trade journals and magazines. Dr. Walker has campaigned for more than three decades for psychiatry to stay true to its medical roots.