ABSTRACT
I cannot think of a more neglected subject in psychiatry. I cannot recall a single article, let alone a book, in our field that suggests that psychopathology is caused by the daily grind. Studs Terkel (1972) gave enough documentary evidence over 30 years ago to knock over anybody. He minced no words in his opening paragraph:
This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence— to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fistfights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.(xiii)
