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PB 8(2):210-213 (1997)

Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness by David A. Karp New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, vii + 240 pp., $23.00

Author: George H. Pollock MD PhD

Abstract

In an era where interdisciplinary collaboration and research seem to flourish, this volume goes against both the grain and the tide. For openers, Professor Karp ignores Freud and psychoanalysis, that is, there are very few references to Freud's monumental observations and early dynamic formulations about depression, melancholia. There is no index entry for psychoanalysis. Furthermore, Karp, a sociologist, seems to still be fighting the “medical model.” He writes,

The grounds for interpreting pain as an abnormal medical condition have been largely established through the increasing incursion of medical and other therapeutic experts into literally every aspect of our lives. Doctors in particular have become explorers, discovering every conceivable aspect of the human condition as potentially problematic and warranting their intervention. Such a “medicalization” process has dramatically increased the number of uncomfortable or disliked feelings and behaviors that we now see as illnesses…. Because it is better to be healthy than to be sick, the medical model legitimizes physicians' intervention, whether requested or not, to determine one's health status. No other profession provides for the extensive access to a person's body, mind, and self as do physical and psychiatric medicine. By defining certain features of the human condition as illnesses to be cured, physicians give themselves the right to explore every part of the human anatomy, to prescribe a myriad of curative agents, and even to compel treatment. (pp. 172-173)

I have quoted verbatim the account of this argument. Readers of this review can taste the flavor of Karp's argument. He equates “the term healthy…with, conformity” (p. 173). Consequently, “the medical model…supersedes legal or religious commandments in regulating behavior” (p. 173). Medical experts used in courts “determine whether certain actions should be defined as crimes. Medicine, especially psychiatric medicine, is often used to ‘treat’ individuals

PB 8(2):210-213 (1997)

Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness by David A. Karp New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, vii + 240 pp., $23.00

Author: George H. Pollock MD PhD

Abstract

The grounds for interpreting pain as an abnormal medical condition have been largely established through the increasing incursion of medical and other therapeutic experts into literally every aspect of our lives. Doctors in particular have become explorers, discovering every conceivable aspect of the human condition as potentially problematic and warranting their intervention. Such a “medicalization” process has dramatically increased the number of uncomfortable or disliked feelings and behaviors that we now see as illnesses…. Because it is better to be healthy than to be sick, the medical model legitimizes physicians' intervention, whether requested or not, to determine one's health status. No other profession provides for the extensive access to a person's body, mind, and self as do physical and psychiatric medicine. By defining certain features of the human condition as illnesses to be cured, physicians give themselves the right to explore every part of the human anatomy, to prescribe a myriad of curative agents, and even to compel treatment. (pp. 172-173)