Jerome C. Wakefield is a professor of social work in the Silver School of Social Work at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Much of his work is in the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

philosophy of psychiatry The philosophy of psychiatry explores philosophical questions relating to psychiatry and mental illness. The philosopher of science and medicine Dominic Murphy identifies three areas of exploration in the philosophy of psychiatry. The first concer ...

. He is noted for his "harmful dysfunction" analysis of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, which he positions between the

anti-psychiatry Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionabl ...

viewpoint of the social construction of mental illness and the conventional view in mainstream psychiatry that such illnesses can be objectively diagnosed based on a set of symptoms. His writings on mental illness have attracted considerable attention, including a 1999 issue of the ''

Journal of Abnormal Psychology The ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology'' (formerly ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology'' and ''Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association (AP ...

'' that was dedicated to his views on the topic. He was elected a member of the

American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (abbreviated AASWSW) is an honor society of American scholars and practitioners in the field of social work and social welfare. The academy was established in 2009, and its office is located ...

in 2020.

References

External links

Faculty page
* Living people American social workers New York University faculty Queens College, City University of New York alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-philosopher-stub