DSM-5 : Psychiatric diagnosis is simply too important to be left exclusively in the hands of psychiatrists....

ALLEN FRANCES

May 13, 2012

"D.S.M.-5 promises to be a disaster... it will introduce many new and unproven diagnoses that will medicalize normality...."

Despite some last-minute changes, there are big problems, says Allen Frances, who led the task force that produced D.S.M.-IV.

The D.S.M. is the victim of its own success and is accorded the authority of a bible in areas well beyond its competence. It has become the arbiter of who is ill and who is not — and often the primary determinant of treatment decisions, insurance eligibility, disability payments and who gets special school services. D.S.M. drives the direction of research and the approval of new drugs. It is widely used (and misused) in the courts....

Frances rejects the accusation that the D.S.M. is "shilling for drug companies":

The mistakes are rather the result of an intellectual conflict of interest; experts always overvalue their pet area and want to expand its purview, until the point that everyday problems come to be mislabeled as mental disorders. Arrogance, secretiveness, passive governance and administrative disorganization have also played a role....

Psychiatric diagnosis is simply too important to be left exclusively in the hands of psychiatrists....