Introduction

When it was first published in 1980, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition—universally known as DSM-III—embodied a radical new method for identifying psychiatric illness. Kirk and Kutchins challenge the general understanding about the research data and the process that led to the peer acceptance of DSM-III.

Reconstruction of the Moment

Their original and controversial reconstruction of that moment concentrates on how a small group of researchers interpreted their findings about a specific problem—psychiatric reliability—to promote their beliefs about mental illness and to challenge the then-dominant Freudian paradigm.