There’s a very interesting article by Kyle Arnold on DxSummit.org. It’s titled DSM: Letting Go of the Big Lie. Here are two quotes: "The lie is that we have succeeded in domesticating emotional suffering, that we have placed it in a grid with clear and familiar boundaries. The lie is that we know the line between mad and normal, and can tell you on which side of the fence you belong. The lie is that it is science, rather than ethics or social norms, that can tell us what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not. The lie is that psychiatric treatment is objective medical treatment, as clear and direct as your medical doctor treating a broken wrist. The lie is that by accepting a psychiatric label, you embark on the road to being cured. The lie is the provision of false hope at the price of a stigmatized identity." ...

BACKGROUND There has been some discussion in recent weeks concerning the role of childhood abuse in the etiology of the condition known as schizophrenia. It is particularly difficult to address this problem because the condition known as schizophrenia is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it is an assortment of loosely clustered behaviors which has been falsely and illogically labeled by the APA as an illness, existing in an individual. So the question “Is schizophrenia caused by childhood abuse?” is a meaningless question. In other words, it cannot be answered either as “true” or “false.” In fact, it can’t even be answered “maybe.” ...

There’s an interesting article on MINNPOST, Many mental-illness websites show drug-company bias, study finds, dated May 16. The article is by Susan Perry, and presents the results of a Web survey of mental health websites conducted by John Read and A. Cain from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The original study was published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. You can see the abstract here. The full article is behind a paywall. (Thanks to Leonie Fennell for the link.) ...

Joel Paris, MD, is an eminent psychiatrist, and is also a Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montréal. He has recently written a very timely book titled: The Intelligent Clinician’s Guide to the DSM-5, published by Oxford University Press. I have placed an order for this book through our local inter-library loan system, and when it comes in, I’ll publish a review. But in the meantime, Dr. Paris has posted on Oxford University Press’s website a brief essay to promote the book. The essay has lots of interesting aspects, and I thought it might be helpful to examine it in some detail. ...

This is an anti-psychiatry website. I say this with no apology. I am opposed to psychiatry because: Its concepts are pathetically spurious, and have no explanatory value. Its practices are harmful, disempowering and stigmatizing. It is routinely deceptive towards it clients and towards the general public. It has avidly sustained a corrupt and corrupting relationship with pharma. But every once in a while I come across a psychiatrist who is different. Recently I came across a post written by 1 Boring Old Man. The post - titled no further comment - is dated February 20 2012. Here are two quotes: ...

Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, is president-elect of the APA, and is scheduled to take over the reins from Dr. Dilip Jeste this month. Never in its history has the APA been subject to such scrutiny or criticism from such diverse sources, and one might reasonably have expected Dr. Lieberman to open on a conciliatory note, promising investigations, reforms, etc…. But no! He’s in the ring slugging furiously from the opening bell. Two days ago (May 20) he published an article in Scientific American titled DSM-5: Caught between Mental Illness Stigma and Anti-Psychiatry Prejudice. ...

Carl Elliot has an interesting post up about the possible link between the military’s increased use of psychotropic drugs and the concomitant increase in soldiers’ suicide rates. It’s titled Note to New York Times reporters: Read the New York Times. Here’s a quote: "Like many reporters before them, James Dao and Andrew Lehren, [NY Times reporters], report that suicides in the military have risen to record levels. What they don't mention is the fact that prescriptions of psychotropic drugs, many of them with black box warnings for suicide, have also risen to record levels." ...

Today I received the following email from Emily Underwood, a reporter with Science Magazine. I am a reporter with Science magazine -- after reading your Twitter feed and blog I thought you might be interested in a live video chat I’m hosting this week on the controversy surrounding the DSM V. My guests are Allen Frances of Duke University, William Eaton of Johns Hopkins University, and Frank Farley of Temple University; given their different takes on the subject it promises to be a lively conversation! ...

GBI Research provides business intelligence reports based on “… the insights of key industry leaders to ensure you stay up-to-date with the latest emerging trends in your markets.” GBI stands for Global Business Intelligence. I’ve recently come across one of their releases titled Europe Adopting US Strategies to Diagnose and Treat ADHD. This is essentially a business analysis of the potential sales of ADHD drugs. Here are some quotes: "European countries are increasingly adopting the US diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV), resulting in more and more diagnoses of ADHD. Clearer guidelines for diagnosis of ADHD in both adults and children and revisions to ADHD treatment methods will be released in the DSM-V in 2013, superceding [sic] the DSM-IV which was last revised in 2000. This may possibly result in a rise in ADHD diagnoses in the US, and potentially further afield." “The US leads the pack in terms of ADHD treatment, holding the highest diagnosis rate for both adults and children. The ADHD market has shown a steady increase in the number of prescriptions in the pediatric population, although this has started to slow down and has potentially reached a plateau. The market will continue to grow, however, due to the increase in the number of adult patients being diagnosed and treated. A relatively open attitude to psychiatric treatment, as well as direct-to-consumer and physician marketing, is leading to increased rates of adult ADHD diagnosis in the US.” ...

Routine screening for depression sounds like a very good thing, and in fact it is recommended by NIMH, and by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (a division of the Department of Health and Human Services), and various other groups. Medicare will pay the total cost of one depression screening per year. But it has long been suggested by those of us on this side of the debate that routine screenings, especially those “free” screenings that are paid for by pharmaceutical companies, have had a distinctive flavor of disease-mongering. ...