{"id":42029,"date":"2013-12-03T12:12:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T17:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=42029"},"modified":"2013-12-04T07:21:13","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T12:21:13","slug":"outright-skullduggery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/03\/outright-skullduggery\/","title":{"rendered":"outright skullduggery…"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dr. Allen Frances’ service in vetting the DSM-5 while it was under construction is well known to all of us. And if you’ve had any dealings with him, you know that while he’s persistent, he’s also a very kind man. He fought hard to keep the DSM-5 from running completely off the tracks, but didn’t succeed in getting the Task Force to step back from their course and to rethink the whole process. Since its release in May, he’s continued to warn of its pitfalls as he does in this post. But in this instance, he may be being a bit too kind. The story he tells here is in the domain of outright skullduggery. First, his post: <\/div>\n
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Psychosis Risk Syndrome Is Back To Haunt Us<\/a><\/div>\n
Huffington Post<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n
by Allen Frances<\/div>\n
11\/26\/2013<\/div>\n

It was at a cocktail party four years ago that I first heard about the plan to include a ‘Psychosis Risk Syndrome’ in DSM-5. The idea was to diagnose and treat subthreshold psychotic symptoms early enough to prevent the later development of full blown psychotic disorders. The motive for introducing ‘Psychosis Risk Syndrome’ was noble, but I knew immediately that the results could be disastrous- misdiagnosis, stigma, and exposure to unnecessary and harmful antipsychotic meds. Most youngsters meeting criteria for Psychosis Risk Syndrome’ would never go on to develop a psychotic disorder. Given this high false-positive rate, the very real risks to the many seemed far to outweigh any theoretical benefits to the few.<\/p>\n

Eventually most researchers – even those who had devoted their careers to researching Psychosis Risk Syndrome — came to agree with me that APS was not ready for inclusion in DSM-5. And finally, even DSM-5 saw the light and dropped the proposal to make Psychosis Risk Syndrome an official category with a code of its own for reimbursement. Or so I thought until I received an email from Sarah Kamens, a doctoral student in psychology at Fordham University, who has become an expert on psychiatric diagnosis and one of the most careful readers and thoughtful critics of DSM-5. She wrote:<\/div>\n