DSM-V: Association of Women in Psychology "Landing Page"

This webpage from the Association of Women in Psychology,
a part of the APA, offers a "Landing Page" to introduce proposed revisions to the DSM-V.

Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis: Concerns about DSM-V

Mission: To provide information for people (including but not limited to professionals and journalists) about biases and other problems in psychiatric diagnosis, an especially important goal in light of the American Psychiatric Association's preparation for the 2013 publication of the next edition of the psychiatric diagnostic manual.

Bios for Group Members and Contributors
NEWS FLASH

1. Psychdiagnosis.net - website about bias in psychiatric diagnosis, including stories about people harmed in a wide variety of ways by receiving such a diagnosis and including six kinds of solutions to problems resulting from psychiatric labeling

2. Click Here for an important article in New Scientist about problems in the preparation for DSM-V

3. Click here to go to a website that is presented as allowing anyone who wants to make suggestions about DSM-V to do so.

Note: AWP’s Committee on Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis does not know what plans may have been made by the DSM-V authors to consider these suggestions.

4. Call for papers for a special issue of Social Science and Medicine, Sociology of Diagnosis

5. PSYCHOUT - A conference for organizing Resistance against Psychiatry - Call for submissions

Introduction:

Psychiatric Diagnosis: Too Little Science, Too Many Conflicts of Interest


Articles:

Anorexia Nervosa and the DSM

Borderline Personality Disorder: The Disparagement of Women through Diagnosis

Female Sexual Dysfunction Diagnoses

Gender Interupted: Controversy and Concerns about Gender Identity Disorder (GID)

Should Obesity Be Called a Mental Illness?

Problems with Parental Alienation Syndrome

Racial Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis

Social Class and Classism in Psychiatric Diagnosis

Link

Update: DSM pathologizes women and children

Diagnosing for Money and Power
'Because most undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses uncritically present the DSM as an objective scientific document, this summary focuses exclusively on the rarely acknowledged critical view. It neither provides a complete analysis of psychiatric diagnosis nor denies that the DSM, if used cautiously and appropriately, can be useful, nor does it advocate against psychiatric diagnostic.
The primary goal of this web page is to promote critical thinking of psychology and psychiatry by presenting an important, however, rarely acknowledged critique of psychiatric diagnosis.

The following summary was inspired by Dr. Paula Caplan's work and the writing cited in the Selected Bibliography at the end of this page.'

DSM Critique

Andrew Wakefield Vindicated - MMR doctor proved right in week he was condemned as 'dishonest'

MMR doctor proved right in week he was condemned as 'dishonest'

'In the week that the doctor at the centre of the controversy over the MMR vaccine and autism was called “dishonest, irresponsible and callous” by a medical disciplinary board, a new study has been published that suggests he could be right all along. Researchers in New York have discovered that children with autism spectrum disorder also had inflammation in the ileum, part of the small intestine – the exact same discovery made by Dr Andrew Wakefield, who may now lose his medical license following a 30-month hearing at the General Medical Council. Wakefield noted that the children he saw also had been given the triple MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, and he speculated that it might be the cause. After the publication of his paper in The Lancet in 1998, vaccination rates dropped dramatically as parents in the UK refused to have their children vaccinated. The new study, from the New York University School of Medicine, discovered that 143 children with autism spectrum disorder also suffered from chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, and inflammation in the small intestine. As the vaccine is compulsory in the US, where the children live, it is reasonable to assume that most, if not all, were vaccinated – although the researchers do not suggest that it was the cause of the inflammation they detected. (Source: Autism Insights, 2010; 2: 1-11).'
Story from WDDTY
http://www.wddty.com/mmr-doctor-proved-right-in-week-he-was-condemned-as-dishonest.html

A prescription for old age

By Lynne McTaggart

The over-60s make up just 8 per cent of the population, but they are prescribed more than one-third of all medicines dispensed by doctors. In fact, the average 60-plus person is prescribed at least six drugs, all of which are interacting to unknown effect.

As WDDTY has discovered, the major drugs routinely dispensed as just-in-case medicine for the over-60s—from cholesterol-lowering drugs to aspirin—cause all of the conditions that we’ve come to associate with old age: physical instability; forgetfulness; incontinence; and dementia. At least five major classes of drugs routinely prescribed to seniors cause falls, while many types of drugs cause incontinence. And virtually any drug—even those sold over the counter—is capable of bringing about some sort of cognitive impairment or ‘brain fog’, with all the hallmarks of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

I saw this close to home with our neighbour ‘Sam’, who handled all the gardening and physical labour around his daughter’s house well into his 80s. One of his party tricks was to race around the garden with his small grandson in a large wheelbarrow. When he became a bit forgetful, his doctor prescribed powerful antipsychotics. In short order, he completely lost his memory, became paranoid and difficult, landed in a nursing home, refused his food and, finally, just gave up and died.

Our neighbour’s situation begs the question of which came first: the problem, or the problem caused by the ‘solution’? If seniors given drugs present with symptoms, doctors are quick to reach for the prescription pad to hand out yet more drugs to handle what are simply side-effects from a drug that the senior probably didn’t need in the first place.

More at Link

Video: Run from the Cure

Link: Run from the Cure
Link: Phoenix Tears

"After a serious head injury in 1997, Rick Simpson sought relief from his medical condition through the use of medicinal hemp oil. When Rick discovered that the hemp oil (with its high concentration of T.H.C.) cured cancers and other illnesses, he tried to share it with as many people as he could free of charge, curing and controlling literally hundreds of people’s illnesses… but when the story went public, the long arm of the law snatched the medicine – leaving potentially thousands of people without their cancer treatments – and leaving Rick with unconsitutional charges of possessing and trafficking marijuana!

Canada is in the middle of a CANCER EPIDEMIC! Meet the people who were not allowed to testify on Rick’s behalf at the Supreme Court of Canada’s Infamous Rick Simpson Trial on September 10, 2007… INCLUDING A MAN WHO WAS CURED OF TERMINAL CANCER USING HEMP OIL!" (Excerpt from cannabisculture.com)

Video: Prescription for Disaster

Link: Prescription for Disaster

From the link:

"It is estimated that in America last year, nearly $2 trillion was spent on health care -- and virtually all that money was spent on treating disease.

Each year more money is spent on treatment, mere patchwork, even though it has become crystal-clear that treatments do NOT enable you to live a longer, better life. So why is the amount of money being spent on prevention just a pittance compared with the amount spent on treatment?

"Prescription for Disaster" is an in-depth investigation into the symbiotic relationships between the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA, lobbyists, lawmakers, medical schools, and researchers, and the impact this has on American consumers and their health care. During this thorough investigation, the film takes a close look at patented drugs, why they are so readily prescribed by doctors, the role insurance companies and HMO's play in promoting compliance, and the problem of rising health care costs. It examines the marketing and public relations efforts on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies, including sales reps, medical journals and conferences. Further, the film looks at alternatives to traditional pharmacology and drug therapy, such as vitamins and nutritional supplements, and why they are often perceived as a competitive threat to the drug manufacturers. Alternative therapies also include diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

This documentary takes you on a journey through the tangled web of big business, the way disease is treated today, and the consequences we suffer as a society."

Video: Big Bucks, Big Pharma

Link: Big Bucks, Big Pharma
This documentary attempts to expose the business behind medicine–often done at the expense of the health of consumers.

Video: Houdini's escape from a strait jacket

Tony Curtis in a memorable moment from a classic film.
May we, too, soon be free.