title: The little woman meets son of DSM-III.
abstract: The author discusses conceptual problems in psychiatry, illustrated by a debate over inclusion of a new disorder, masochistic personality disorder, in DSM-III-R, the manual of psychiatric diagnoses. While the DSM committee has attempted to avoid assumptions about theory and values in an attempt to be scientific, this has proved impossible, as theory is an integral part of scientific observation and values are a prerequisite for any judgement. The foundation for psychiatry cannot be theory-it can only be patient need.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritchie
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008398:Masochism; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011057:Politics; D011570:Psychiatry; D012067:Religion; D012945:Social Values; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*