Myth of Mental Illness

Until now, I’ve pretty much steered clear of DSM-5. My reason for this is that the upcoming revision represents, to my mind, a distraction from the central issue, i.e., that the whole notion of mental illness is spurious, destructive nonsense. My position is that the purpose of DSM is to expand psychiatric turf and to legitimize the pushing of mood/behavior-altering pharmaceuticals. In the US (and I believe in most developed countries) you can’t prescribe a drug without a diagnosis. And the APA has never neglected its primary mission in this area. ...

I’ve just read Reviving the Myth of Mental Illness by Steven Morgan. This article appeared in the Personal Stories section of Robert Whitaker’s website Mad in America, and is well worth reading. Here are some quotes: "Thus, it is important to note that mental illness in itself – the idea that a mind is ill, is actually a categorical error, like saying the sky is ill or the color green is healthy. " ...

Christopher Lane recently wrote an article called Anti-DSM Sentiment Rises in France. Here are some quotes: “Anger and concern about the growing influence of the DSM in France, as well as over a number of related, prominent pharmaceutical scandals here, has culminated in the creation of Stop DSM, a professional and political group that is strongly opposed to the manual’s diagnostic power and what it sees as its negative social consequences.” ...

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 Association claims that all such problems are caused by mental illness and their list of these so-called illnesses is so long that virtually anybody can be embraced within their coils. ...