Defining Normal: Constructions of Race and Gender in the DSM-IV Casebook

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which the DSM-IV Casebook constructs gender and race/ethnicity in depictions of individuals with mental illness. Analyses indicated that the case studies were gendered in accordance with socially sanctioned descriptions of women and men, with women more likely to be described negatively and in terms of physical attractiveness, and that women of color in particular were more likely to be sexualized. We argue that the studies in the Casebook contribute to a gendered and raced conceptualization of mental illness, and that these explicit definitions of pathology reflect implicit definitions of normalcy.