DSM-5 Retreats from Some Controversial Diagnoses

Kermit Cole
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The APA DSM-5 Development website announced today that “Psychosis Risk” and “Mixed Anxiety Depression” will not be included in the DSM-5 (apart from recommendations for further study), and added criteria to “clarify” the distinction between bereavement and major depressive disorder. Criteria for ADHD have also been tightened. The statement invites “Final Public Comment” through June 15th.

Statement → 

Related Items:
Allen Frances writes “the world is a safer place now that “Psychosis Risk” will not be in DSM-5. Its rejection saves our kids from the risk of unnecessary exposure to antipsychotic drugs.” (Psychiatric Times)
Updates to psychiatric guide spur controversy (Washington Post)
Psychiatry Manual Drafters Back Down on Diagnoses (New York Times)

Related “In the News” items:
APA Proposes Alternative to Juvenile Bipolar
Incoming APA President Emphasizes “Positive Psychiatry”
Weak Field Trials Scuttle DSM-5 Diagnoses
DSM-5 Retreats from Some Controversial Diagnoses
Ethics Complaints Over DSM Filed With the APA

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

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Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole
Kermit Cole, MFT, founding editor of Mad in America, works in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a couples and family therapist. Inspired by Open Dialogue, he works as part of a team and consults with couples and families that have members identified as patients. His work in residential treatment — largely with severely traumatized and/or "psychotic" clients — led to an appreciation of the power and beauty of systemic philosophy and practice, as the alternative to the prevailing focus on individual pathology. A former film-maker, he has undergraduate and master's degrees in psychology from Harvard University, as well as an MFT degree from the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. He is a doctoral candidate with the Taos Institute and the Free University of Brussels. You can reach him at [email protected]

2 COMMENTS

  2. i’m surprised “wilful sanity” hasn’t been included in DSM-5 (!)
    In another point, what do people think about the hijacking of the term anasognosia? (= not accepting that you are mentally ill).
    I can accept its use in cases of Alzhemer’s, perhaps, where the patient doesn’t realise they have it, but now – in the UK, at least – it seems to be used to convince family members and friends to be complicit in getting loved ones to take their medication, whether they need it or not. They even show the relatives brain scans to “prove” they are deluded in thinking they are not mentally ill.

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