The Quiet Crisis in Mental Health: The Medicalization and Deskilling of Psychotherapy

The Quiet Crisis in Mental Health: The Medicalization and Deskilling of Psychotherapy

The medicalization of psychotherapy has undoubtedly been influenced by the psychiatric establishment’s “revolution” in 1980, marked by the release of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). A manual barely known to the public before 1980 has since become a hegemonic force, shaping not only the practice of psychotherapy but also the broader cultural understanding of psychological suffering as “bio…