Pigeonholing women's misery

the long version

In Pigeonholing Women's Misery, Hannah Lerman takes aim at the formal classification systems that have shaped the diagnosis of women in twentieth-century America. She describes the psychodiagnosis of women and shows us how this phenomenon has evolved, changed, and in some instances, remained static. Lerman analyzes the developmental trajectory of the DSM over time, up to the DSM-IV, showing us how a historical perspective is crucial to understanding the contemporary diagnosis of women. Unless we as therapists examine how we approach the assessment of women's mental health problems, we may continue to do harm when our intentions are to help women heal. With a feminist lens, Lerman points to the gap between diagnostic criteria cited in the professional literature and the real-life consequences resulting from particular diagnoses - or misdiagnoses. . Lerman's book is a wake-up call to therapists who want to shed outdated professional cloaks and sharpen their assessment tools in ways that will suit the rapidly changing contexts of their clients. The labeling systems we have come to rely on, she convincingly argues, need to be redesigned to accommodate the complexities of gender, culture, and personal context.