Posted by alexandra_k on July 18, 2013, at 4:58:23
In reply to Re: DSM-5 » alexandra_k, posted by Dinah on July 17, 2013, at 8:53:50
> I have heard nothing good about the DSM-5, but haven't looked at it myself. I wasn't overly fond of the DSM-4 either.
>
> I resent being forced into a mold, and the doctors who live and breathe by the DSM tend to do that.Yes. I imagine being on the task-force is a fairly thankless task... A lot of people are going to be made unhappy, no matter what you do.
The beginning blurb is the caveats...
This time... They said they tried to be responsive to consumer feedback. I guess that was about complaints that were made about judgements like 'manipulativeness' etc. They don't specify... That is a hard one, though, since the criteria are supposed to be objective and thus not particularly amenable to lobby group pressure (I don't know that they acknowledge the influence of that for the removal of homosexuality or the inclusion of post-traumatic stress for war veterans).
They have a significant speel on forensics... How even when the criterion requires diminished cognitive capacity (for instance) that doesn't mean there is diminished cognitive capacity in the legal sense. They have a speel on how diagnosis doesn't imply anything important for law (with respect to intent etc or with respect to best treatment e.g., drugs and psych ward or prison). But that is a tricky fine line because why have a diagnostic handbook if the diagnoses are not relevant for determining best treatment? Caught between a rock...
They say that the diagnostic categories don't imply much for treatment. Thus there may be people requiring treatment or who would benefit from treatment who don't meet criteria. They don't mean to imply they shouldn't be treated. And conversely people might meet criteria but that doesn't imply they should be treated.
So... What does dx MEAN, again??
Oh dear...
They need something, though...
Or... Do they?
With the translation between WHO's ICD Index... Why do they need a separate dx manual at all???
The NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) has provided alternative areas to focus research on. They are fairly sensible areas... From an evolutionary / developmental point of view... Broad, general... I don't know... Promising...
Of course it is possible I'm not summarizing them particularly well.. Dense text to be sure and vague language is best for capturing vague phenomena but it makes comprehension tricky...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1047284
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20130612/msgs/1047388.html