Article ID: CBB630004689

Psychiatry and the Sociology of Novelty: Negotiating the US National Institute of Mental Health “Research Domain Criteria” (RDoC) (2019)

unapi

Pickersgill, Martyn (Author)


Science, Technology and Human Values
Volume: 44
Issue: 4
Pages: 612-633


Publication Date: 2019
Edition Details: Special Issue: The Death of the Clinic? Emerging Biotechnologies and the Reconfiguration of Mental Health
Language: English

In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is seeking to encourage researchers to move away from diagnostic tools like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM). A key mechanism for this is the “Research Domain Criteria” (RDoC) initiative, closely associated with former NIMH Director Thomas Insel. This article examines how key figures in US (and UK) psychiatry construct the purpose, nature, and implications of the ambiguous RDoC project; that is, how its novelty is constituted through discourse. In this paper, I explore and analyze these actors’ accounts of what is new, important, or (un)desirable about RDoC, demonstrating how they are constituted through institutional context and personal affects. In my interviews with mental health opinion leaders, RDoC is presented as overly reliant on neurobiological epistemologies, distant from clinical imaginaries and imperatives, and introduced in a top-down manner inconsistent with the professional norms of scientific research. Ultimately, the article aims to add empirical depth to current understandings about the epistemological and ontological politics of contemporary (US) psychiatry and to contribute to science and technology studies (STS) debates about “the new” in technoscience. Accordingly, I use discussions about RDoC as a case study in the sociology of novelty.

...More
Associated with

Article Jonas Rüppel; Torsten H. Voigt (2019) The Death of the Clinic? Emerging Biotechnologies and the Reconfiguration of Mental Health. Science, Technology and Human Values (pp. 567-580). unapi

Article Jonas Rüppel; Torsten H. Voigt (2019) The Death of the Clinic? Emerging Biotechnologies and the Reconfiguration of Mental Health. Science, Technology and Human Values (pp. 567-580). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB630004689/

Similar Citations

Article Pickersgill, Martyn; (February 2013)
How personality became treatable: The mutual constitution of clinical knowledge and mental health law (/isis/citation/CBB252103230/)

Article Laura Stark; Nancy D Campbell; (December 2018)
The ineffable: A framework for the study of methods through the case of mid-century mind-brain sciences (/isis/citation/CBB709893551/)

Article Jonas Rüppel; Torsten H. Voigt; (2019)
The Death of the Clinic? Emerging Biotechnologies and the Reconfiguration of Mental Health (/isis/citation/CBB246876726/)

Article Natalia Magliocchetti; (2017)
Il Sistema informativo per la salute mentale del Ministero della Salute (/isis/citation/CBB627692545/)

Article Erik Børve Rasmussen; (December 2020)
Making and managing medical anomalies: Exploring the classification of ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ (/isis/citation/CBB131501262/)

Chapter Rosner, Rachael I.; (2005)
Psychotherapy Research and the National Institute of Mental Health, 1948-1980 (/isis/citation/CBB000501421/)

Book Liliana Dell'Osso; Dario Muti; (2020)
L'accademia e la follia (/isis/citation/CBB412262516/)

Article Régis Olry; Duane E. Haines; (2017)
The Devil Always Experienced Malicious Pleasure in Imposing Himself in Neuropsychiatric Nosology (/isis/citation/CBB588658266/)

Article Mario Colucci; (2017)
Prospettive della salute mentale in Italia (/isis/citation/CBB437764979/)

Article Vera Fusco; Francesca Gollo; Marco Salustri; (2019)
Il Museo Laboratorio della Mente come risorsa per la salute mentale (/isis/citation/CBB096289987/)

Article Fabio Cirifino; Paolo Rosa; Leonardo Sangiorgi; (2019)
Musei, memorie e narrazioni per la salute mentale. Narrazioni, immagini, interattività (/isis/citation/CBB525269710/)

Article Danilo Dondici; (2019)
Change Minds: Una storia di archivi e di manicomi per andare oltre la psichiatria (/isis/citation/CBB435808463/)

Article Cesare Bondioli; (2017)
Dalla salute mentale alla psichiatria: un arretramento? (/isis/citation/CBB796646272/)

Article Andrea Narracci; (2019)
Scenari per il futuro della salute mentale (/isis/citation/CBB708807900/)

Article Jaume Sastre‐Juan; Jaume Valentines‐Álvarez; (2019)
Fun and Fear: The Banalization of Nuclear Technologies Through Display (/isis/citation/CBB152621793/)

Authors & Contributors
Rüppel, Jonas
Pickersgill, Martyn
Dondici, Danilo
Dell'Osso, Liliana
Sastre Juan, Jaume
Colucci, Mario
Concepts
Psychiatry
Mental health and illness
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Mental disorders and diseases
Medicine
Clinical psychology
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
Italy
Great Britain
United States
United Kingdom
Pisa (Italy)
Ukraine
Institutions
National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment