DSM-5 in New Scientist: “Psychiatry’s new diagnostic bible is creating headaches for doctors and patients alike”
Post #171 Shortlink: http://wp.me/pKrrB-293
A reminder that this third and final stakeholder review and comment period is scheduled to close on June 15.
On May 17, APA added the following statement to the home page of the DSM-5 Development site.
APA Position Statement on DSM-5 Draft Diagnostic Criteria
The official position of the APA on draft DSM-5 diagnostic criteria is that they are not to be used for clinical or billing purposes under any circumstances. They are published on the www.dsm5.org Web site to obtain feedback on these preliminary DSM-5 Task Force proposals from mental health professionals, patients, and the general public. They have not received official reviews or approval by the APA Board of Trustees and will not be available for clinical use or billing purposes until May 2013.
Two articles in this week’s online and print editions of New Scientist.
The first report, by Peter Aldhous, quotes Allen Frances, MD, who had chaired the development of the DSM-IV; APA research director and DSM-5 Task Force Vice Chair, Darrel Regier, and Dr Dayle Jones who is tracking DSM-5 for the American Counseling Association, on DSM-5 field trial kappa results and the relegation of Attenuated psychosis syndrome and Mixed anxiety/depression to the DSM-5 appendix.
This article is behind a paywall or a subscription to the print edition.
New Scientist 19 May 2012
Page 6 print edition
THIS WEEK/MENTAL HEALTH
Psychiatry’s new diagnostic bible is creating headaches for doctors and patients alike
Online title Trials highlight worrying flaws in psychiatry ‘bible’
Peter Aldhous
Diagnosis: uncertain
HOW reliable is reliable enough?
The second article, “OPINION ‘Label jars, not people”, by James Davies, is accessible on the New Scientist website without payment or print edition subscription.
New Scientist 19 May 2012
Page 7 print edition
OPINION | James Davies
James Davies is a senior lecturer in social anthropology and psychotherapy at the University of Roehampton, London
“LABEL jars, not people” and “stop medicalising the normal symptoms of life” read placards, as hundreds of protesters – including former patients, academics and doctors – gathered to lobby the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual meeting.
The demonstration aimed to highlight the harm the protesters believe psychiatry is perpetrating in the name of healing. One concern is that while psychiatric medications are more widely prescribed than almost any drugs in history, they often don’t work well and have debilitating side effects. Psychiatry also professes to respect human rights, while regularly treating people against their will. Finally, psychiatry keeps expanding its list of disorders without solid scientific justification…
