[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: [ICSPP_Discussion_Group] Fwd: [wildestcolts] Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?

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experts ask: Will anyone be normal?






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Subject: [wildestcolts] Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be
normal?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100727/hl_nm/us_mental/print

Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?
By Kate Kelland Kate Kelland Tue Jul 27, 11:28 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – An updated edition of a mental health bible for
doctors may include diagnoses for "disorders" such as toddler tantrums
and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be
classed as normal.
Leading mental health experts gave a briefing on Tuesday to warn that a
new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM), which is being revised now for publication in 2013,
could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost
everyone as having some kind of disorder.
Citing examples of new additions like "mild anxiety depression,"
"psychosis risk syndrome," and "temper dysregulation disorder," they
said many people previously seen as perfectly healthy could in future
be told they are ill.
"It's leaking into normality. It is shrinking the pool of what is
normal to a puddle," said Til Wykes of the Institute of Psychiatry at
Kings College London.
The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and
contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing
mental disorders. It is seen as the global diagnostic bible for the
field of mental health medicine.
The criteria are designed to provide clear definitions for
professionals who treat patients with mental disorders, and for
researchers and pharmaceutical drug companies seeking to develop new
ways of treating them.
Wykes and colleagues Felicity Callard, also of Kings' Institute of
Psychiatry, and Nick Craddock of Cardiff University's department of
psychological medicine and neurology, said many in the psychiatric
community are worried that the further the guidelines are expanded, the
more likely it will become that nobody will be classed as normal any
more.
"Technically, with the classification of so many new disorders, we will
all have disorders," they said in a joint statement. "This may lead to
the belief that many more of us 'need' drugs to treat our 'conditions'
-- (and) many of these drugs will have unpleasant or dangerous side
effects."
The scientists said "psychosis risk syndrome" diagnosis was
particularly worrying, since it could falsely label young people who
may only have a small risk of developing an illness.
"It's a bit like telling 10 people with a common cold that they are "at
risk for pneumonia syndrome" when only one is likely to get the
disorder," Wykes told the briefing.
The American Psychiatric Association did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
The scientists gave examples from the previous revision to the DSM,
which was called DSM 4 and included broader diagnoses and categories
for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and
childhood bipolar disorders.
This, they said, had "contributed to three false epidemics" of these
conditions, particularly in the United States.
"During the last decade, how many doctors were harangued by worried
parents into giving drugs like Ritalin to children who didn't really
need it?," their statement asked.
Millions of people across the world, many of them children, take ADHD
drugs including Novartis' Ritalin, which is known generically as
methylphenidate, and similar drugs such as Shire Plc's Adderall and
Vyvanse. In the United States alone, sales of these drugs was about
$4.8 billion in 2008.
Wykes and Callard published a comment in The Journal of Mental Health
expressing their concern about the upcoming DSM revision and
highlighting another 10 or more papers in the same journal from other
scientists who were also worried. DSM 5 is due to be published in May
2013.
(Editing by Peter Graff)



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