Criticism of New DSM: From a Psychiatrist

[Meesh]

Yes, it does happen. We're not all sheep in the mental health profession.

This chair of the last DSM task force, and professor at Duke University, has criticized the additions in the new DSM V. And there was plenty to critique in the one that this one is replacing!

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...-worst-changes

[Freed Fox]

When I started college back in 2006, I was a big believer in the psychiatric field. Now, I am not only skeptical of it, but seriously concerned about the trends that are emerging. Over-medication and mis-diagnosis being chief among these concerns.

They need to take a serious look at the correlation between anti-psychotic and anti-depressant meds and mass shooters/killers (such as Adam Lanza).

It is encouraging that there are professionals in the field who are questioning the course the field at large is taking.

[Adi]

Very interesting indeed. It is encouraging to see those involved questioning the changes to the DSM and its effects that it will create on patients, e.g., unnecessary medicating and flawed diagnosis. The introduction of the "minor neuro-cognitive impairment" title was interesting, as there is a high frequency of medicating for dementia/Alzheimer's already, witch the reality is, those drugs do little if not have a worse effect on the disease and neuropsychological effect of the disease on the patient. This new title will probably be used to give extra governance for the use of these drugs for minor memory problems in the elderly, its really exploitation.

Adi

[Patrikas]

Hi ,
heres some interesting reading regarding antidepressants that concerned me when i read it ,

i have never taken them but have known many that have

http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/testimony1.html

http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/antidepressants.html

[Grumpy Cat]

Over-medication is a real problem in psychiatry. They also seem to have this little "box" for normalcy and anything outside that box is deemed unwell! One example: I was on hospital on the standard 10mg dose of Olanzapine and all of a sudden the quack decided to up it to 15! And for no apparent reason.. perhaps because I am quite animated and "out there" by default and they didn't like that? They even had the gaul to suggest 20 (the maximum meant for acute schizophrenics when i am simply bipolar...) but thankfully my mother overruled them on that one.

I'm now on less than 2.5 as frankly all I really need them for these days is as a sleep-aid. Since I've organised my mind, "woke up" and found coping mechanisms (smoking for example - rather that than drugs!!) my dependance on medication has drastically dropped.

There's so many people in hospitals drugged up to the eyeballs simply for being themselves!! I can imagine one chap pacing up and down that corridor as we speak... his only crime is speaking his mind when perhaps one should keep their mouth shut as most of us would be diagnosed with something if we vented to a psychiatrist!!

[Mulder]

I'm interested in looking at this new DSM and it's complimentary "International Classification of Diseases" which is published by the World Health Organization (WHO). ICD-11 is planned for 2015. I've just researched how the American Psychiatric Association [APA] de-classified homosexuality in 1973 due to a gay psychiatrist who changed his voice and wore a mask to spoke how his career was destroyed by the classification in the DSM. I wish a bi-polar Psychiatrist could do the same today to get rid of this diagnosis!



"At the 1972 [APA] convention...gay psychiatrist Dr. John Fryer, recently ousted from his job at UPenn and apparently unemployable due to the rumors of his homosexuality, was recruited by activists to give a speech about the damaging effects of the DSM diagnosis. Though he initially refused the offer, after being rejected by one university after another as he looked for a new job, Fryer accepted the second request on the condition that his identity remain a secret. He appeared as ‘Dr. Anonymous,’ wearing a loud suit several sizes too big, his face hidden behind a distorted Nixon mask, hair covered by a wig, speaking into a special microphone to alter his voice. “He explained to his fellow psychiatrists how these [81] words [this was the diagnosis of homosexuality as an illness] had harmed him, and others like him,” and when he was through, received a standing ovation." - http://www.mindofmodernity.com/not-s...y-from-the-dsm

[Hermite]

Oh, there is great reason to be concerned about this new publication. Here are some things that will send you to the pill factory, as well as go on you permanent record as mental disorders.

These are from the link in the OP:

Temper tantrums, grief over the loss of a loved one, forgetting where you put your keys after you reach a certain age, eating too much, spending too much time on the computer.

"First time substance abusers will be lumped in definitionally with hard core addicts despite their very different treatment needs and prognosis and the stigma this will cause."

Not mentioned, but I saw these for myself a year or so ago:

People who see or talk to ghosts/spirits and those who have ET encounters.

I do not know if those are still in there or not. But we would all be well-advised to find out.

I've never been a proponent of book-burning, but this one makes me wonder if that's such a bad idea after all.