Jerome C. Wakefield
University Professor; Professor of Social Work; Professor of the Conceptual Foundations of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine; Associate Faculty, NYU Center for Bioethics, College of Global Public Health; Affiliate Faculty, NYU Center for Ancient Studies; Affiliate Faculty, Department of Philosophy, NYU College of Arts and Sciences; Honorary Faculty, Psychoanalytic Association of New York, affiliated with NYU School of Medicine
PhD, DSW, MSW, MA, BA
Areas of Expertise: Conceptual foundations of clinical theory; philosophy of psychopathology; psychiatric epidemiology of depression; integrative clinical theory; Freud studies
Biography
Jerome Wakefield is a Professor at NYU Silver as well as an NYU University Professor with multidisciplinary appointments. His clinical training and experience have been within the mental health field and were integrative, including psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, and family training, with work in agencies as well as private practice. He was for many years a licensed clinical social worker in New Jersey.
Dr. Wakefield’s scholarly specialty is the conceptual foundations of clinical theory. He is the author of more than 300 publications appearing in journals and books in psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and social work, dealing with issues at the intersection of philosophy and the mental health professions. Much of his recent work has concerned the concept of mental disorder, especially how normal negative responses to a problematic social environment can be distinguished from mental disorder and how DSM diagnostic criteria fail to adequately draw this distinction. Dr. Wakefield rejects both the anti-psychiatric critique that holds that there is no such thing as mental disorder other than as a label for socially disvalued conditions, and the standard psychiatric position that any well-defined syndromal set of symptoms can define a disorder. He argues for a middle ground position in which the concept of a physical or mental medical disorder is a hybrid value and scientific concept requiring both harm, assessed according to social values, and dysfunction, anchored in facts about evolutionary design. Unlike the anti-psychiatric view, Dr. Wakefield’s "harmful dysfunction" analysis offers a position from which to mount meaningful and constructive criticism of standard psychiatric diagnostic criteria based on assumptions about disorder that, he argues, lie at the foundation of psychiatry itself. This work has been widely recognized. For example, in 1995, NIMH held a conference of leading researchers on conduct disorder devoted to exploring the implications of Dr. Wakefield's views for that field. In 1999, a special issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology was devoted to his views; his “harmful dysfunction” analysis of the concept of mental disorder is currently the most cited approach in the psychological literature for distinguishing mental disorder from normal-range distress and suffering due to environmental stressors. His analysis is widely cited in abnormal psychology and introductory psychology textbooks; and many articles have appeared in journals devoted to analyzing and critiquing his views.
In addition to his work on mental disorder, Dr. Wakefield is known for his analysis of the profession of social work as a field properly concerned with "minimal distributive justice," a view on which he has elaborated in a series of articles on the conceptual foundations of social work. In this work, using John Rawls' theory of justice as a framework, Dr. Wakefield attempts to integrate the traditional justice-oriented essential mission of social work with the profession's clinical focus via an account of “psychological justice,” the psychological features individuals need in order to participate effectively in our society given its special values and opportunities. Dr. Wakefield has also made substantial contributions to the conceptual foundations of psychoanalysis, especially in a series of articles excavating the linkages between Freud's approach to the mind and current cognitive science approaches. Recent publications include critiques of some aspects of the "relational" approach to the mind in psychoanalysis, and a series of articles examining Freud’s case history of “Little Hans.” Other topics of his scholarship range from an elaboration of a Platonic version of Erikson's concept of generativity to the implications of Continental phenomenology for the psychoanalysis of personality disorders.
Current projects include a series of articles using large psychiatric epidemiological data sets to explore issues of diagnostic validity for mental disorders, particularly depression and substance dependence. He is also completing a two-volume analysis of Freud’s case of Little Hans from philosophy-of-science and Foucaultian perspectives. His most recent book is Freud and Philosophy of Mind, Volume 1: Reconstructing the Argument for Unconscious Mental States (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
In April 2007, Dr. Wakefield was the lead author of a paper published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, “Extending the Bereavement Exclusion for Major Depression to Other Losses: Evidence From the National Comorbidity Survey.” The article described ways that symptoms of intense sadness due to a variety of losses may resemble those of major depressive disorder (MDD), but may not indicate a mental disorder. The publication, which challenged conventional thinking on the manifestations of depression, also gained national and international coverage in outlets that included The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, BBC World News, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio, and ABC World News with Charles Gibson. His subsequent work on depression, grief, and sadness and the boundary between normal and disordered emotions has continued to draw media attention, including an appearance on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
A book by Wakefield on this topic, written with Rutgers sociologist Allan Horwitz and titled The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder, was published in 2007 by Oxford University Press. This book won the Association of American Publishers’ award as the Best Psychology Book of 2007. Three conferences were held in Paris in summer 2010 on themes in Dr. Wakefield's work on depression. A second book with coauthor Horwitz, All We Have to Fear: Psychiatry’s Transformation of Natural Anxieties into Mental Disorders, was published by Oxford University Press in 2012.
Current and recent Board memberships include:
Editorial Board, Clinical Social Work Journal
Editorial Board, Evolutionary Psychology
Editorial Board, Psychoanalysis and the Human Sciences (Italy, pub. in Italian as Psicoterapia e scienze umane)
Editorial Board, Mens Sana Monographs (India, pub. in English)
National Advisory Board, Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration
International Advisory Board, International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry
Advisory Board, NYU Center for Bioethics
Advisory Board, NYU Humanities Initiative
Prior to coming to NYU, Dr. Wakefield held faculty positions at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Rutgers University.
Dr. Wakefield held post-doctoral fellowships in women's studies at Brown University’s Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, where he worked on the history of medical diagnoses of sexual dysfunction and the sex biases inherent in such diagnoses; cognitive science at University of California at Berkeley, where he worked on integrating psychodynamic theory with cognitive science; and mental health services research at Rutgers, where he worked on the validity of diagnostic criteria for mental disorder. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, and is a founding fellow of the Council for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, is an elected member of the Rapaport-Klein Study Group in Ego Psychology, and is a lecturer in psychiatry (Biometrics Unit) at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has served on the editorial boards of Social Work Research and Research on Social Work Practice, is currently on the editorial board of Psicoterapia e scienze umane, and is a regular peer reviewer for leading journals in social work, philosophy, psychiatry, and psychology.
Dr. Wakefield earned his BA from Queens College (CUNY), with concentrations in philosophy, psychology, and mathematics. He holds an MSW in clinical social work, an MA in mathematics with a specialization in logic and methodology of science (George Kelley, Thesis Chair: Evolution of the theory of proportions in ancient Greek mathematics), and two doctoral degrees, one in social welfare (Eileen Gambrill and William Runyan, Dissertation Co-Chairs: Psychosexual disorders: Studies in the role of psychotherapeutic ideology in diagnosis and treatment), and the other in philosophy (John Searle, Dissertation Chair: Do unconscious mental states exist?: Freud, Searle, and the conceptual foundations of cognitive science), all from the University of California at Berkeley.
Books
Wakefield, J. C. (2022). Freud's Argument for the Oedipus Complex: A Philosophy of Science Analysis of the Case of Little Hans. Taylor & Francis.
Wakefield, J. C. (2022). Attachment, sexuality, power: Oedipal theory as regulator of family affection in Freud’s case of Little Hans. Taylor & Francis.
Wakefield, J. C. (2018). Freud and philosophy of mind, volume 1: Reconstructing the argument for unconscious mental states. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wakefield, J. C., & Demazeux, S. (Eds.). (2016), Sadness or depression?: International perspectives on the depression epidemic and its meaning. Netherlands: Springer Science.History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences Series.
Horwitz, A. V., & Wakefield, J. C. (2012). All we have to fear: Psychiatry’s transformation of natural anxieties into mental disorders. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horwitz, A. V., & Wakefield, J. C. (2007) The loss of sadness: How psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder. New York: Oxford University Press.
Publications
R. Spitzer and the depathologization of homosexuality: some considerations on the 50th anniversary
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2024,
In : World Psychiatry. 23, 2, p. 285-286
2 p.
Foucault Versus Freud: Oedipal Theory and the Deployment of Sexuality
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2024.
Taylor and Francis
348 p.
Two Sides of Depression: Medical & Social
Horwitz, A. V. & Wakefield, J. C., Sep 1 2023,
In : Daedalus. 152, 4, p. 212-227
16 p.
The promise of evolutionary psychiatry
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2023,
In : World Psychiatry. 22, 2, p. 173-174
2 p.
Alcune riflessioni sulla nuova diagnosi del DSM-5-TR di "Disturbo da lutto prolungato"
Wakefield, J. C., 2023,
In : Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane., 4, p. 563-584
22 p.
L'anti-Edipo dalla prospettiva della filosofia della scienza e da quella foucaultiana del sapere-potere
Wakefield, J. C., 2023,
In : Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane., 2, p. 187-212
26 p.
Attachment, sexuality, power: Oedipal theory as regulator of family affection in freud's case of little hans
Wakefield, J. C., Sep 23 2022.
Taylor and Francis
312 p.
Freud's argument for the oedipus complex: A philosophy of science analysis of the case of little hans
Wakefield, J. C., Sep 23 2022.
Taylor and Francis
286 p.
Klerman's “credo” reconsidered: neo-Kraepelinianism, Spitzer's views, and what we can learn from the past
Wakefield, J. C., Feb 2022,
In : World Psychiatry. 21, 1, p. 4-25
22 p.
Can One and the Same Instance of Grief Be Both Normal and Disordered?
Wakefield, J. C., Dec 2021,
In : Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology. 28, 4, p. 341-346
6 p.
Levels of Meaning and the Need for Psychotherapy Integration
Wakefield, J. C., Baer, J. C. & Conrad, J. A., Sep 1 2020,
In : Clinical Social Work Journal. 48, 3, p. 236-256
21 p.
Addiction from the harmful dysfunction perspective: How there can be a mental disorder in a normal brain
Wakefield, J. C., Jul 1 2020,
In : Behavioural Brain Research. 389, 112665.
Harm as a Necessary Component of the Concept of Medical Disorder: Reply to Muckler and Taylor
Wakefield, J. C. & Conrad, J. A., May 21 2020,
In : Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (United Kingdom). 45, 3, p. 350-370
21 p.
Does the harm component of the harmful dysfunction analysis need rethinking?: Reply to Powell and Scarffe
Wakefield, J. C. & Conrad, J. A., Sep 1 2019,
In : Journal of Medical Ethics. 45, 9, p. 594-596
3 p.
Freud and philosophy of mind: Reconstructing the argument for unconscious mental states
Wakefield, J. C., Nov 20 2018.
Springer International Publishing
382 p.
The harmful dysfunction analysis of addiction: Normal brains and abnormal states of mind
Wakefield, J. C., May 31 2018,
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction.
Taylor and Francis, p. 90-101
12 p.
How not to escape from the grünbaum syndrome: A critique of the “new view” of psychoanalysis
Eagle, M. N. & Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2018,
Who Owns Psychoanalysis?.
2nd ed.
Taylor and Francis, p. 343-361
19 p.
How not to escape from the grünbaum syndrome: A critique of the “new view” of psychoanalysis
Eagle, M. N. & Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2018,
Who Owns Psychoanalysis?.
Taylor and Francis, p. 343-361
19 p.
Can the Harmful Dysfunction Analysis Explain Why Addiction is a Medical Disorder?: Reply to Marc Lewis
Wakefield, J. C., Jul 1 2017,
In : Neuroethics. 10, 2, p. 313-317
5 p.
Concept representation in the Child: What did Little Hans mean by "Widdler"?
Wakefield, J. C., Jul 2017,
In : Psychoanalytic Psychology. 34, 3, p. 352-360
9 p.
Addiction and the Concept of Disorder, Part 1: Why Addiction is a Medical Disorder
Wakefield, J. C., Apr 1 2017,
In : Neuroethics. 10, 1, p. 39-53
15 p.
Addiction and the Concept of Disorder, Part 2: Is every Mental Disorder a Brain Disorder?
Wakefield, J. C., Apr 1 2017,
In : Neuroethics. 10, 1, p. 55-67
13 p.
Severity of complicated versus uncomplicated subthreshold depression: New evidence on the “Monotonicity Thesis” from the national comorbidity survey
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Apr 1 2017,
In : Journal of Affective Disorders. 212, p. 101-109
9 p.
Symptom quality versus quantity in judging prognosis: Using NESARC predictive validators to locate uncomplicated major depression on the number-of-symptoms severity continuum
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jan 15 2017,
In : Journal of Affective Disorders. 208, p. 325-329
5 p.
Mental disorders as genuine medical conditions
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2017,
Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine.
Springer Netherlands, p. 65-82
18 p.
Putting Humpty Together Again: Treatment of Mental Disorder and Pursuit of Justice as Parts of Social Work’s Mission
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2017,
Social Work Ethics.
eBook ed.
Taylor and Francis, p. 129-145
17 p.
The Measurement of Mental Disorder
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jan 1 2017,
A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health: Social Contexts, Theories, and Systems.
Cambridge University Press, p. 20-44
25 p.
History of Depression
Wakefield, J. C., Lorenzo-Luaces, L. & Horwitz, A. V., 2017,
Oxford handbook of mood disorders.
Oxford Press, p. 11-23
Taking people as they are: Evolutionary psychopathology, uncomplicated depression, and the distinction between normal and disordered sadness
Wakefield, J. C., Lee, J. & Lorenzo-Luaces, L., 2017,
The Evolution of Psychopathology.
Springer , p. 37-72
Feelings of worthlessness during a single complicated major depressive episode predict postremission suicide attempt
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Apr 1 2016,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 133, 4, p. 257-265
9 p.
Diagnostic Issues and Controversies in DSM-5: Return of the False Positives Problem
Wakefield, J. C., Mar 28 2016,
In : Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 12, p. 105-132
28 p.
Reply
Wakefield, J. C., Feb 1 2016,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 133, 2, p. 165-166
2 p.
Against utility
Wakefield, J. C., Feb 2016,
In : World Psychiatry. 15, 1, p. 33-35
3 p.
An exchange with Thomas Nagel: The mind-body problem and psychoanalysis
Wakefield, J. C., Nagel, T., Kessler, R., Erreich, A. & Rand, B., 2016,
In : Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 64, 2, p. 389-403
Introduction: Depression, One and Many
Wakefield, J. C. & Demazeux, S., 2016,
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences.
Springer Science and Business Media B.V., p. 1-15
15 p.
Le risposte. Un bilancio: commenti sullo stato attuale della psicoanalisi
Wakefield, J. C., 2016,
In : Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane. 50, 3, p. 625-631
7 p.
Psychiatry’s Continuing Expansion of Depressive Disorder
Wakefield, J. C. & Horwitz, A. V., 2016,
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences.
Springer Science and Business Media B.V., p. 173-203
31 p.
Sadness Or Depression?: International Perspectives on the Depression Epidemic and Its Meaning
Wakefield, J. C. (ed.) & Demazeux, S. (ed.), 2016.
Springer
The concepts of biological function and dysfunction: Toward a conceptual foundation for evolutionary psychopathology
Wakefield, J. C., 2016,
The handbook of evolutionary psychology.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 878-902
84 p.
The editor's dilemma: How DSM politics are turning psychiatry into a pseudoscience
Wakefield, J. C., Dec 1 2015,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 132, 6, p. 425-426
2 p.
DSM-5 substance use disorder: How conceptual missteps weakened the foundations of the addictive disorders field
Wakefield, J. C., Nov 2015,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 132, 5, p. 327-334
8 p.
History of depression
Horwitz, A. V., Wakefield, J. C. & Lorenzo-Luaces, L., Oct 5 2015,
The Oxford Handbook of Mood Disorders.
Oxford University Press, p. 11-23
13 p.
Uncomplicated depression as normal sadness: Rethinking the boundary between normal and disordered depression
Wakefield, J. C., Horwitz, A. V. & Lorenzo-Luaces, L., Oct 5 2015,
The Oxford Handbook of Mood Disorders.
Oxford University Press, p. 83-94
12 p.
Symptom data reanalysis disconfirms Parker et al.'s claim that latent class analysis identifies melancholic depression
Wakefield, J. C., Oct 1 2015,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 132, 4, p. 306-307
2 p.
Biological Function and Dysfunction
Wakefield, J. C., Sep 8 2015,
The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology.
John Wiley and Sons Ltd., p. 878-902
25 p.
DSM-5, psychiatric epidemiology and the false positives problem
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 13 2015,
In : Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences. 24, 3, p. 188-196
9 p.
The harmful dysfunction model of alcohol use disorder: Revised criteria to improve the validity of diagnosis and prevalence estimates
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jun 1 2015,
In : Addiction. 110, 6, p. 931-942
12 p.
Psychological justice: DSM-5, false positive diagnosis, and fair equality of opportunity
Wakefield, J. C., 2015,
In : Public Affairs Quarterly. 29, 1, p. 32-75
43 p.
The Loss of Grief: Science and Pseudoscience in the Debate over DSM-5’s Elimination of the Bereavement Exclusion
Wakefield, J. C., 2015,
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences.
Springer Science and Business Media B.V., p. 157-178
22 p.
The biostatistical theory versus the harmful dysfunction analysis, part 1: Is part-dysfunction a sufficient condition for medical disorder?
Wakefield, J. C., Dec 1 2014,
In : Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (United Kingdom). 39, 6, p. 648-682
35 p.
Social construction, biological design, and mental disorder
Wakefield, J. C., Dec 2014,
In : Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology. 21, 4, p. 349-355
7 p.
Uncomplicated depression is normal sadness, not depressive disorder: Further evidence from the NESARC
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Oct 2014,
In : World Psychiatry. 13, 3, p. 317-319
3 p.
Predictive validation of single-episode uncomplicated depression as a benign subtype of unipolar major depression
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jun 2014,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 129, 6, p. 445-457
13 p.
Wittgenstein's nightmare: Why the RDoC grid needs a conceptual dimension
Wakefield, J. C., Feb 2014,
In : World Psychiatry. 13, 1, p. 38-40
3 p.
Psychological justice: Distributive justice and psychiatric treatment of the non-disordered
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2014,
The Routledge International Handbook of Social Justice.
Taylor and Francis, p. 353-384
32 p.
Uncomplicated Depression, Suicide Attempt, and the DSM-5 Bereavement Exclusion Debate: An Empirical Evaluation
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jan 2014,
In : Research on Social Work Practice. 24, 1, p. 37-49
13 p.
Corrigendum: How many people have alcohol use disorders? Using the harmful dysfunction analysis to rectify prevalence rates in two community surveys.
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., 2014,
In : Frontiers in Psychiatry. 5, 144.
Corrigendum to How many people have alcohol use disorders? Using the harmful dysfunction analysis to rectify prevalence rates in two community surveys [Front Psychiatry, 5, (2014) 10] DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00010
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., 2014,
In : Frontiers in Psychiatry. 5, OCT, 144.
How many people have alcohol use disorders? Using the harmful dysfunction analysis to reconcile prevalence estimates in two community surveys
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., 2014,
In : Frontiers in Psychiatry. 5, FEB, Article 10.
Diagnostic criteria as dysfunction indicators: Bridging the chasm between the definition of mental disorder and diagnostic criteria for specific disorders
First, M. B. & Wakefield, J. C., Dec 2013,
In : Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 58, 12, p. 663-669
7 p.
Diagnostic validity and the definition of mental disorder: A program for conceptually advancing psychiatry
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Dec 2013,
In : Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 58, 12, p. 653-655
3 p.
Clarifying the boundary between normality and disorder: A fundamental conceptual challenge for psychiatry
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Nov 2013,
In : Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 58, 11, p. 603-605
3 p.
The DSM-5 debate over the bereavement exclusion: Psychiatric diagnosis and the future of empirically supported treatment
Wakefield, J. C., Nov 2013,
In : Clinical Psychology Review. 33, 7, p. 825-845
21 p.
The importance and limits of harm in identifiying mental disorder
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Nov 2013,
In : Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 58, 11, p. 618-621
4 p.
Study data support the validity of the major depression bereavement exclusion.
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jul 2013,
In : Unknown Journal. 74, 7, p. 741
1 p.
Uncomplicated depression: New evidence for the validity of extending the bereavement exclusion to other stressors
Wakefield, J. C., Jul 2013,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 128, 1, p. 92-93
2 p.
DSM-5: An Overview of Changes and Controversies
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2013,
In : Clinical Social Work Journal. 41, 2, p. 139-154
16 p.
DSM-5 and Clinical Social Work: Mental Disorder and Psychological Justice as Goals of Clinical Intervention
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2013,
In : Clinical Social Work Journal. 41, 2, p. 131-138
8 p.
DSM-5 and the General Definition of Personality Disorder
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2013,
In : Clinical Social Work Journal. 41, 2, p. 168-183
16 p.
DSM-5 grief scorecard: Assessment and outcomes of proposals to pathologize grief
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2013,
In : World Psychiatry. 12, 2, p. 171-173
3 p.
Normal vs. disordered bereavement-related depression: Are the differences real or tautological?
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Feb 2013,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 127, 2, p. 159-168
10 p.
When does depression become a disorder? Using recurrence rates to evaluate the validity of proposed changes in major depression diagnostic thresholds
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Feb 2013,
In : World Psychiatry. 12, 1, p. 44-52
9 p.
Is complicated/prolonged grief a disorder?: Why the proposal to add a category of complicated grief disorder to the DSM-5 is conceptually and empirically unsound
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2013,
Complicated Grief: Scientific Foundations for Health Care Professionals.
Taylor and Francis, p. 99-114
16 p.
Sexual reorientation therapy: Is it ever ethical? can it ever change sexual orientation?
Wakefield, J. C., Jan 1 2013,
Ex-Gay Research: Analyzing the Spitzer Study and its Relation to Science, Religion, Politics, and Culture.
Taylor and Francis, p. 201-208
8 p.
Addiction, the concept of disorder, and pathways to harm: comment on Levy
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., 2013,
In : Frontiers in Psychiatry. 4, 34.
After Removal from DSM-5, Why Clinicians Should Remember the Bereavement Exclusion
Wakefield, J. C., 2013,
In : Psychiatry Weekly. 8, 4.
Can the DSM's major depression bereavement exclusion be validly extended to other stressors?: Evidence from the NCS
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., 2013,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 128, 4, p. 294-305
12 p.
The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: A pluralogue. Part 4: General conclusion
Phillips, J., Frances, A., Cerullo, M. A., Chardavoyne, J., Decker, H. S., First, M. B., Ghaemi, N., Greenberg, G., Hinderliter, A. C., Kinghorn, W. A., LoBello, S. G., Martin, E. B., Mishara, A. L., Paris, J., Pierre, J. M., Pies, R. W., Pincus, H. A., Porter, D., Pouncey, C., Schwartz, M. A. & 5 others, Dec 18 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 1, 14.
Beyond reactive versus endogenous: Should uncomplicated stress-triggered depression be excluded from major depression diagnosis? A review of the evidence
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Dec 2012,
In : Minerva Psichiatrica. 53, 4, p. 251-275
25 p.
Fallacious reasoning in the argument to eliminate the major depression bereavement exclusion in DSM-5
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M., Oct 2012,
In : World Psychiatry. 11, 3, p. 204-205
2 p.
Recurrence of depression after bereavement-related depression: Evidence for the validity of DSM-IV bereavement exclusion from the epidemiologic catchment area study
Wakefield, J. C. & Schmitz, M. F., Jun 2012,
In : Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 200, 6, p. 480-485
6 p.
Should prolonged grief be reclassified as a mental disorder in DSM-5?: Reconsidering the empirical and conceptual arguments for complicated grief disorder
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2012,
In : Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 200, 6, p. 499-511
13 p.
The DSM-5's Proposed New Categories of Sexual Disorder: The Problem of False Positives in Sexual Diagnosis
Wakefield, J. C., Jun 2012,
In : Clinical Social Work Journal. 40, 2, p. 213-223
11 p.
The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: A pluralogue part 3: Issues of utility and alternative approaches in psychiatric diagnosis
Phillips, J., Frances, A., Cerullo, M. A., Chardavoyne, J., Decker, H. S., First, M. B., Ghaemi, N., Greenberg, G., Hinderliter, A. C., Kinghorn, W. A., LoBello, S. G., Martin, E. B., Mishara, A. L., Paris, J., Pierre, J. M., Pies, R. W., Pincus, H. A., Porter, D., Pouncey, C., Schwartz, M. A. & 5 others, May 23 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 1, 9.
The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: A pluralogue part 2: Issues of conservatism and pragmatism in psychiatric diagnosis
Phillips, J., Frances, A., Cerullo, M. A., Chardavoyne, J., Decker, H. S., First, M. B., Ghaemi, N., Greenberg, G., Hinderliter, A. C., Kinghorn, W. A., LoBello, S. G., Martin, E. B., Mishara, A. L., Paris, J., Pierre, J. M., Pies, R. W., Pincus, H. A., Porter, D., Pouncey, C., Schwartz, M. A. & 5 others, Apr 18 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 1, 8.
Mapping melancholia: The continuing typological challenge for major depression
Wakefield, J. C., Apr 2012,
In : Journal of Affective Disorders. 138, 1-2, p. 180-182
3 p.
DSM-5: Proposed changes to depressive disorders
Wakefield, J. C., Mar 2012,
In : Current Medical Research and Opinion. 28, 3, p. 335-343
9 p.
Are you as smart as a 4th grader? Why the prototype-similarity approach to diagnosis is a step backward for a scientific psychiatry
Wakefield, J. C., Feb 2012,
In : World Psychiatry. 11, 1, p. 27-28
2 p.
Placing symptoms in context: The role of contextual criteria in reducing false positives in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnoses
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Feb 2012,
In : Comprehensive Psychiatry. 53, 2, p. 130-139
10 p.
Validity of the bereavement exclusion to major depression: Does the empirical evidence support the proposal to eliminate the exclusion in DSM-5?
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Feb 2012,
In : World Psychiatry. 11, 1, p. 3-10
8 p.
The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: A pluralogue part 1: Conceptual and definitional issues in psychiatric diagnosis
Phillips, J., Frances, A., Cerullo, M. A., Chardavoyne, J., Decker, H. S., First, M. B., Ghaemi, N., Greenberg, G., Hinderliter, A. C., Kinghorn, W. A., LoBello, S. G., Martin, E. B., Mishara, A. L., Paris, J., Pierre, J. M., Pies, R. W., Pincus, H. A., Porter, D., Pouncey, C., Schwartz, M. A. & 5 others, Jan 13 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 1, 3.
Normal Reactions to Adversity or Symptoms of Disorder?
Wakefield, J. C. & Horwitz, A. V., Jan 9 2012,
Clinician's Guide to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
John Wiley and Sons, p. 33-49
17 p.
All we have to fear: Psychiatry's transformation of natural anxieties into mental disorders
Wakefield, J. C. & Horwitz, A. V., 2012.
New York: Oxford University Press
An adequate concept of mental disorder. In: Phillips et al., The Six Most Essential Questions in Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Pluralogue, Part 1: Conceptual and Definitional Issues in Psychiatric Diagnosis
Wakefield, J. C., 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 3, p. 18-20
Commentary: How we choose among the five umpires of epistemology. In: Phillips et al., The Six Most Essential Questions in Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Pluralogue, Part 1: Conceptual and Definitional Issues in Psychiatric Diagnosis
Wakefield, J. C., 2012,
In : Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 7, 3, p. 9-10
Czy jesteś ma̧drzejszy od czwartoklasisty? dlaczego diagnoza polegaja̧ca na ocenie podobieństwa do prototypu jest krokiem wstecz w psychiatrii naukowej
Wakefield, J. C., 2012,
In : Postepy Psychiatrii i Neurologii. 21, 3, p. 168-171
4 p.
Public health and the classification of mental disorders
Wakefield, J. C., Weiss, M., Levav, I. & Sartorius, N., 2012.
Public health aspects of diagnosis and classification of mental and behavioral disorders: Refining the research agenda for DSM-5 and ICD-11.
Arlington: World Health Organization
Relation between duration and severity in bereavement-related depression
Wakefield, J. C., Schmitz, M. F. & Baer, J. C., Dec 2011,
In : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 124, 6, p. 487-494
8 p.
Treatment outcome for bereavement-excluded depression: Results of the study by corruble et al are not what they seem
Wakefield, J. C. & First, M. B., Aug 2011,
In : Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 72, 8, p. 1155
1 p.
DSM-5 proposed diagnostic criteria for sexual paraphilias: Tensions between diagnostic validity and forensic utility
Wakefield, J. C., May 2011,
In : International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 34, 3, p. 195-209
15 p.
Selected Presentations
Wakefield, J. C. “Nosology Wars: How an Evolutionary Perspective Can Help to Resolve the Clash Among Competing Approaches to Psychiatric Diagnosis.” Neuroethics Network 2019 Conference, Paris, France, June 19, 2019.
Baer, J. C., & Wakefield, J. C. “Scientific and Moral Arguments for Psychotherapy Integration.” Annual conference of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, Lisbon, Portugal, June 7, 2019.
Wakefield, J. C. "Conceptual and ethical issues in the definition, classification, and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders." NIH Bioethics Division, Bethesda, Maryland, February 27, 2019.
Endowed Lecture: Wakefield, J. C. “Robert Spitzer and the Definition of Mental Disorder” Invited Lecture: Robert L. Spitzer Memorial Lecture and Grand Rounds, Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute, December 19, 2018.
Wakefield, J. C. "Has addiction been hijacked by the hijack hypothesis?: Rival evolutionary perspectives on substance use and substance use disorder.” The Nature of Addiction Workshop, Department of Philosophy and University Center of Human Values, Princeton University, September 28, 2018.
Keynote: Wakefield, J. C. “Addiction and the Concept of Disorder.” Annual Conference of the Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine at State University of New York at Buffalo, July 29, 2018.
Keynote: Wakefield, J. C. “Taxonomizing DSM-5: Health, Psychological Justice, and Virtue as Organizing Values of Psychiatry.” Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Louisville KY, March 11, 2016.
Wakefield, J. C. "Conceptual and ethical issues in the definition, classification, and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders" NIMH Bioethics Division, Bethesda, Maryland. April 13, 2016.
Endowed Lecture: Wakefield, J. C. “Is Psychiatry Misdiagnosing Normal Sadness as Depressive Disorder?: The DSM-5 Debate Over the Bereavement Exclusion and What the Latest Research Reveals.” Rhoda Sarnat Lecture, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, October 22, 2015.
Wakefield, J. C. “Psychiatric Diagnosis and Social Justice: DSM-5 Changes in Child Diagnosis and Their Social, Policy, and Forensic Implications.” DSW Program Orientation, NYU Silver School, August 28, 2015.
Keynote: Wakefield, J. C. “Is Grief a Form of Pathology?” Conference on Bioethics and the Philosophy of Medicine, SUNY Buffalo Philosophy Dept., Aug. 1, 2015.
Keynote: Wakefield, J. C. “The Biostatistical Theory Versus the Harmful Dysfunction Analysis, Part 2.” Conference on Bioethics and the Philosophy of Medicine, SUNY Buffalo Philosophy Dept., July 31, 2015.
Endowed Lecture: Wakefield, J. C. “DSM-5 Changes in Child Diagnosis: Social, Policy, and Forensic Implications.” The Davis Lecture in Health Administration, Center for Health Administration Studies, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, April 28, 2015.
Selected Media Mentions
Undark Magazine
Opinion: The Hidden Dangers of Pathologizing Grief
July 21, 2022
Fast Company
Prolonged Grief Disorder: Helpful Diagnosis or Harmful Stigma?
May 18, 2022
Vice
What Does It Mean to Have a ‘Weird’ Brain in the Age of Neurodiversity?
March 29, 2022
The New York Times
How Long Should It Take to Grieve? Psychiatry Has Come Up With an Answer
March 18, 2022
Courses
MSW: Critical Analysis Psychotherapy Theories
MSW: Depression: Conceptual Issues & Clinical Perspectives