“..A so-called “mental health bible” is undergoing a significant revision that will further expand the boundaries of what constitutes mental illness.
The tome, relied on by professionals around the world, was first published by the American Psychiatric Association in 1952.
Since then it has been revised four times and its fifth draft revision has attracted a storm of criticism.
British mental health practitioners were so concerned when they saw a draft version they called a press conference in February to warn of the damage it could do.
In fact what they said about the upcoming revision of the US diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) was described by Reuters as a “a damning analysis”.
The news agency’s Health and Science Correspondent Kate Kelland said as a result many of those that “most people would consider normal or just mildly eccentric” – could face being medicalised for mental illness alongside the genuinely unwell”.
“The psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts said new categories of mental illness identified in the book were ‘at best ‘silly’ – and at worst ‘worrying and dangerous,’” she reported.
The head of Liverpool University’s Institute of Psychology, Peter Kinderman pulled no punches either.
“Many people who are shy, bereaved, eccentric, or have unconventional romantic lives -
- will suddenly find themselves labeled as mentally ill.
It’s not humane – it’s not scientific – and it won’t help decide what help a person needs.”..”
(cont..)
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