DSM

What’s New? APA Threats, Xanax, Etc.

January 23, 2012

Daniel Carlat’s blog carries an interesting item.  It seems that a lady named Suzy Chapman started a site called dsm5watch, in which she expressed criticism of the DSM.  Well, the APA didn’t like this and sent her a cease and desist letter, claiming that the string “DSM-5” is trademarked, and that she was infringing their [...]

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DSM and Disability

December 12, 2010

Every society in every generation makes errors.  Some of the errors are minor.  Some are major.  One of the great errors of the 20th century was this:  we accepted the spurious notion that a wide range of life’s problems were in fact illnesses.  This spurious notion was initiated with good intentions – to provide shelter [...]

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Sexual Disorders Are Not Illnesses

June 28, 2010

The central theme of this blog is that almost all the so-called mental illnesses listed in the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual are nothing more than the ordinary everyday challenges of human existence. The psychiatric profession has “elevated” these problems to the status of disorders and illnesses to justify and legitimize their involvement in these [...]

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Personality Disorders Are Not Illnesses

May 5, 2010

The central theme of this blog is that there are no mental illnesses. The concept of mental illness is a spurious invention of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals for the purpose of medicalizing normal human problems and selling drugs. The central tenet of the mental health system is that unusual, bizarre, and disturbing behaviors [...]

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The So-Called Mental Illnesses Are Not Illnesses

April 15, 2010

The central theme of this blog is that mental illness is a spurious and invalid concept, which is promoted and developed by the American Psychiatric Association to legitimize the use of mood-altering drugs. It is certainly true that people display various problems in their daily lives and particularly in their interpersonal relationships.  The American Psychiatric [...]

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Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder

April 17, 2009

CONDUCT DISORDER The essential feature of Conduct Disorder, according to the APA, is a “repetitive and persistent pattern” of rule breaking or activity which violates other people’s basic rights. The manual identifies four broad categories of behavior under this heading: aggression; destruction of property; theft or deceitfulness; and serious violation of rules. DSM goes on [...]

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How Can They Just Invent Illnesses?

March 25, 2009

The notion of a professional group such as the APA sitting in their councils and committees inventing illnesses for themselves to treat seems so preposterous that a measure of disbelief on the part of the reader is understandable.  In its historical context, however, the development is not so surprising.  The original 1952 DSM was very [...]

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