The Hoax of "Psychiatry's Bible"

DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Volume V)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States and contains a listing of diagnostic criteria for every psychiatric disorder recognized by the U.S. healthcare system. 1
DSM V, the fifth version of the DSM, is currently being worked on by the America Psychiatric Association (APA) for release in 2013 (a year later than earlier publicized).  The DSM has been revised several times.  The most current version is the DSM-IV-TR.  As stated in one of our earlier articles last year, the APA stated that they continue to hypothesize [to explain facts and observations] and investigate through literature reviews and analyses.  (American Psychiatric Association, 2009) This year the APA announces that they are “conducting literature reviews, performing secondary data analyses, and soliciting feedback from colleagues and other advisors.” 2  Again, there is no mention of testing to determine whether or not a person has one of their labels (“disorders”).

Currently up for discussion are the disorders due to a general medical condition. This is preposterous to think of labeling symptoms of a bona-fide medical condition as a mental health problem.  Imagine if a child breaks a bone in their leg, they are in pain, so now the symptoms of pain and itchiness due to the cast, would be a mental disorder? There are so many things wrong with that picture.

293.9 Mental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified Due to ...

One could only assume that if a mental change occurred in someone due to a primary medical condition, that addressing the medical condition itself would be the answer.  Instead, the psychiatric industry would prefer to drug a patient, who is already ill, providing them with additional side effects, from psychiatric drugs, on top of their current symptoms, possibly resulting in suicidal thoughts, violent behavior, and/or a host of other non-optimal effects (as evidenced in the FDA warnings on all classes of psychiatric drugs).

If the APA truly had the answers to our mental health problems our psychiatric facilities would be emptying with now happy and healthy members of society; our homeless would become productive instead of continuing to wander around dazed; and the average American would not need drugs to distort their realties.

An article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the fact that psychiatry’s modern history has evolved from lobotomies with ice picks and electric shocks, to early antidepressants that caused brain hemorrhaging, to the more modern drugs that have now been documented to cause suicidal ideation.

This all brings us to asking the question, “If we are not going to continue to drug people who have difficulties what should we do?”  There are answers to this question.  See our resource A Safe Approach to Mental Health.

REFERENCES

1. American Psychiatric Association “About DSM” http://www.dsm5.org/about/Pages/Default.aspx
2. American Psychiatric Association “Timeline” http://www.dsm5.org/about/Pages/Timeline.aspx