Paula Caplan

Paula Joan Caplan (July 7, 1947 – July 21, 2021) was an American psychologist and author who pioneered the feminist critique of psychology. She served on the American Psychiatric Association's committee for the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), but resigned over the inclusion of "Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder" (PMDD) and "Self-Defeating Personality Disorder" (SDPD), which she believed unscientifically pathologized female traits.

Biography Paula was born on July 7, 1947, in Springfield, Missouri, to Jerome and Theda Ann Caplan. Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a clinical psychologist.

Caplan has done more than 1,000 media interviews as part of her activism and given over 400 invited addresses. In addition to her academic pursuits, Caplan has acted in commercials and had small roles in TV shows. She has written plays and directed documentary films, including Isaac Pope: The Spirit of an American Century (2019), about a black WWII veteran and his fight against oppression. She sought to educate the public about the unregulated nature of psychiatric diagnoses and the consequent lack of recourse for people who have been harmed by getting such labels.

Her final book, When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans, won the 2011 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in the Psychology category.

Publications Caplan has authored eleven books.

When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans (2011)

Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis (2004) (co-edited with Lisa Cosgrove)

Gender Differences in Human Cognition (1997) (co-authored with Mary Crawford, Janet Hyde, and John Richardson)

They Say You’re Crazy: How the World’s Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal (1995)

You’re Smarter Than They Make You Feel: How the Experts Intimidate Us and What We Can Do About It (1994)

Thinking Critically About Research on Sex and Gender (1994) (co-authored with her son, Jeremy B. Caplan)

Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Woman's Guide to Surviving in the Academic World (1993)

Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship (1989)

The Myth of Women's Masochism (1985)

Between Women: Lowering the Barriers (1981) (originally "Barriers Between Women")

Children's Learning and Attention Problems (1979) (co-authored with Marcel Kinsbourne)