Psychiatry's
latest version of their Bible, DSM 5, (Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders), is set for official release tomorrow.
The National Institute on Mental Health announced that it will not use
the new DSM to guide its scientific program. Dr. Thomas Insel, the
director of NIMH said that “NIMH will be re-orienting its research away
from DSM categories.” He said the DSM is "at best, a dictionary,
creating a set of labels and defining each" and that "its weakness is
its lack of validity."
The media and internet are now alive with celebrations of this NIMH "kill shot". There are chortlings that the new DSM is dead on arrival and will perhaps take psychiatry down along with it. Psychiatry’s Bible is under attack!
USA Today
Books blast new version of psychiatry’s bible, the DSM
by Sharon Jayson
May 12, 2013
Critics take aim at changes envisioned for psychiatry’s bible, the DSM.
Psychiatry’s battle-scarred bible of mental disorders — known as the DSM — continues to face a barrage of criticism even as the latest version (DSM-5) is just days away from official release.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has been published since 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association to identify and classify mental disorders. Its last major revision was in 1994. With every revision, there are critics.
But among the legions roiling against this new version, a literary assault has now emerged. An array of books strategically timed to the new version being released at the organization’s annual meeting in San Francisco (which begins Saturday) are largely aimed at its failings.
“This is not just an academic debate,” says psychiatrist Allen Frances, who was chairman of the DSM-IV task force. “It’s not just inside psychiatry. It has a huge impact on how lives are lived, how mental health dollars are spent and on the public health of the country.”
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