Measuring Mental Disorders: Psychiatry, Science and Society

This book is a collective work draws on the perspective of social sciences, mobilizing perspectives from the sociology of science, the history of psychiatry, medical ethnography and public policy analysis. This initiative, which has no precedent in social sciences, is surrounded by an original, if not apparently paradoxical statement: considering that the deployment of these processes, strictly formal and depersonalized, is justified in becoming the rule in a society known as "individuals".

Part 1. Basic Principles: Strengths and Limitations of Psychiatric Assessment Tools 1. The Spread of Psychiatric Nosography into Science: Origins and Issues of the Research on Depression (1950–1985) 2. The Hamilton Scale as an Analyzer for the Epistemological Difficulties in Research on Depression

Part 2. Developments: Chronicles of Successful Tests 3. A Golden Standard to Evaluate OCD: On the Use of the Y-BOCS 4. Objectifying Dementia: the Use of the Mini-Mental State Exam in Medical Research and Practice

Part 3. Uses: the Tests in Context 5. The MMSE in Practice: the Medical Relationship Reflected through the Administration of a Neuropsychological Test 6. From Care to Risk Prevention: the Success of Screening Tests for Drugs at the Workplace (United States/France)