Conclusion

Abstract

DSM-5, along with its predecessors, claims to be no more less than a classification of psychiatric disorders. Each DSM aspires to carry out this classification mission in a scientific manner, organizing the world of psychopathology in the most scientifically acceptable manner at the time of its inscription. The authors of the successive manuals would thus be reluctant to see their creations as historical, cultural, ideological products rather than as scientific documents. The chapters in this section challenge the stated goals of the manuals by embedding the DSMs in their political contexts. In these other settings, the manuals become more and less than simple scientific nosologies: more in the sense that they are expressive of larger cultural themes; less in the sense that their science is inevitably thrown into question.