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Toward a New Paradigm for Psychiatric Diagnoses and Clinical Research in Sexology

University of Massachusetts, Boston, Graduate College of Education, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA, 02125, USA, lisa.cosgrove{at}umb.edu

Melissa Pearrow

University of Massachusetts, Boston, Graduate College of Education, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA, 02125, USA, melissa.pearrow{at}umb.edu

Maria Anaya

University of Massachusetts, Boston, Graduate College of Education, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA, 02125, USA, manaya4{at}gmail.com

The growing acceptance of a biopsychiatric model for women's sexual health issues and the dramatic increase of pharmaceutical industry research funding over the last decade have both contributed to ethical and professional crises in sexology and psychiatry. Although conflict of interest (COI) policies deal with some of these issues, public trust is compromised in such an industry-dominated climate. This article describes why the lack of transparency in diagnostic and clinical guidelines is an important public health issue for women, presents data about financial associations between expert members of diagnostic guidelines panels and `Big Pharma', and relates the discussion to concepts of biopower and biopolitics. One element in these developments — the overuse of diagnostic checklists — undermines an appreciation for the diversity of women's sexualities, reinforces the authority of only certain kinds of research, and privileges biomedical interventions. The authors emphasize the need for a paradigm shift, analogous to that advanced by the New View Campaign, that promotes diagnostic instruments and treatment interventions more fully supportive of consumer, rather than corporate, interests.

Key Words: conflict of interest • DSM • feminist methods • psychiatry • qualitative research • sexology

Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 18, No. 4, 457-465 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959353508095528


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