[acb-hsp] Fw: Good Investment Opportunities, Morality Not An Issue (DSM)

[djrogers0628]

Subject: Good Investment Opportunities, Morality Not An Issue (DSM)


> To paraphrase what Mr. McGuire said to The Graduate's Benjamin: "I want to 
> say one word to you. Just one word. Pharmaceuticals."
>
>
>
> <http://www.smh.com.au/world/psychiatric-manual-revision-under-fire-20100211-nv92.html>
>
> PSYCHIATRIC MANUAL REVISION UNDER FIRE
>
> Rob Stein
> February 12, 2010
>
> WASHINGTON: Children who throw too many tantrums could be diagnosed with 
> ''temper dysregulation with dysphoria''. Teenagers who are particularly 
> eccentric might be candidates for treatment for ''psychosis risk 
> syndrome''. People who are far too interested in sex face being labelled 
> as suffering from ''hypersexual disorder''.
>
> These are among dozens of proposals unveiled by the American Psychiatric 
> Association in the first complete revision since 1994 of the Diagnostic 
> and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or ''DSM'' - the massive tome 
> that has served as the bible for modern psychiatry for more than half a 
> century.
>
> The product of more than a decade of work, the proposed revisions are 
> designed to bring the best scientific evidence to bear on psychiatric 
> diagnoses and could have far-reaching implications.
>
> ''It not only determines how mental disorders are diagnosed, it can impact 
> how people see themselves and how we see each other,'' said Alan 
> Schatzberg, the association's president.
>
> The proposals will be debated in an intense process over the next two 
> years, with potentially billions of dollars at stake for pharmaceutical 
> companies, insurance companies, government health plans, doctors, 
> researchers and advocacy groups.
>
> But, perhaps more importantly, the outcome will help shape which emotions, 
> behaviours, thoughts and personality traits society considers part of the 
> natural spectrum of the human persona and which are considered 
> pathological.
>
> The proposed changes have been the subject of sometimes bitter debate 
> about whether the process was based on solid scientific evidence and was 
> shielded from influence by the pharmaceutical industry.
>
> Supporters argue that the revisions would make diagnoses more accurate, 
> creating more useful and precise definitions. For example, autistic 
> disorder and Asperger's disorder would be replaced with a single category: 
> autism spectrum disorders.
>
> Critics, however, fear the new diagnoses could unnecessarily stigmatise 
> many people and lead to the unnecessary use of psychiatric medications.
>
> ''By massively pathologising people under these categories, you tend to 
> put them on an automatic path to medication, even if they are experiencing 
> normal distress,'' said Jerome Wakefield, a professor of social work and 
> psychiatry at New York University.
>
> Dr Schatzberg said: ''We're mindful of the concern that we don't want to 
> overdiagnose.''
>
> ''Risk syndromes'' have been proposed in the hope that early diagnosis and 
> treatment will stave off the full-blown conditions. But Robert Spitzer, a 
> professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, was concerned adolescents 
> who were merely ''a little odd'' would be labelled ''pre-psychotic''.
>
> The Washington Post
>
> Op