Well, there is one more week for comments on the DSM-5 web site [through June 15] and there’s still no posting of the results of the Field Trials [DSM-5 Field Trials] reported at the APA Meeting in Philadelphia. They have, however, had time to add a new page about permissions [DSM-5 Permissions Policy] and a […]
It’s reasonable to assume that like much of American Psychiatry, the original DSM grew out of our WWII experience… World War II saw the large-scale involvement of US psychiatrists in the selection, processing, assessment and treatment of soldiers. This moved the focus away from mental institutions and traditional clinical perspectives. A committee that was headed […]
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems [most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD] is a medical classification that provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease. Under this system, every health condition can be assigned […]
I was just sent this article, short but so clear. Clarity comes best from afar, and this paper is by watchers with an appropriate distance: Medical Ghostwriting: A University–Sanctioned Sleight of Hand? Society by Jonathan Leo & Jeffrey R. Lacasse May 2012 As we examined the results of the investigation, we were struck by the […]
While historians have the advantage of freedom from contemporary drama and knowing the outcome, they lose the passion of the moment. The moments after the introduction of the DSM-III were certainly dramatic at the time. For all intents and purposes, with the DSM-III, psychiatry had declared itself a biological science, free from the shackles of […]
About now, it would seem that the position of the DSM-5 Gurus is entrenched. Drs. Kupfer, Regier, and Scully have been mostly quiet except for Dr. Scully’s piece in the Huffington Post mentioned previously, ending with "…when it is published, on time, in 2013." And reading back over their responses, there’s little to suggest that […]
The DSM-5 Web Site now links to DSM-5 Facts, a site prepared for them by a Public Relations Firm, GYMR. Last week, the Huffington Post had an article in response to Dr. Allen Frances’ criticism, DSM-5 Inaccuracies: Setting the Record Straight, by by James Scully, APA Medical Director, that began, In his Huffington Post blog […]
Senator complains to NIH about UM doctor Sen. Charles Grassley sent a letter questioning the National Institutes of Health about a grant for a University of Miami doctor. Miami Herald By John Dorschner May 31, 2012 Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health demanding to know why the […]