During the preparations for the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5, controversies have raged over the broadening of diagnostic definitions. Critics have argued that the new manual, due to be published in May, will turn more people than ever into psychiatric patients.
So I wheeled out Moliere's imaginary invalid and investigated whether the shrinks are letting normality shrink away into oblivion. The resulting feature has now come out in Current Biology:
Has the manual gone mental?
Current Biology, Volume 23, Issue 8, R295-R298, 22 April 2013 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.009
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A stage production of Moliere's Le malade imaginaire in Argentina, via Flickr.
Thank you very much for the excellent coverage of the problems of DSM5, specifically SSD.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Ms. Chapman and Prof. Frances that SSD must be thrown in the trash. I mean, APAs own trials showed 7% of HEALTHY people will get a SSD diagnosis. Despite this fact and the constant flood of criticism of SSD directed to the working group over the years, they still stubbornly insist on including it in DSM5!
I hope that SSD can be dropped ASAP through the new ad hoc review process for DSM. Again, thanks for your coverage.
Justin Reilly, esq.
New York, NY