The psychiatric world is full of absurdity, like this gem. Neuroskeptic reports on a recent British Journal of Psychiatry article in which a new and less stringent category of Personality Disorder, called Personality Difficulties, is recommended as an addition to DSM-V (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual vol 5, to be published by the American Psychological Association, APA). The problem: with this new category, at least 78% of the general public could be diagnosed with personality disorders. As Neuroskeptic points out, it seems that we should almost scrap the whole category and instead consider the 22% without personality disorders as the abnormal ones.
Psychiatry’s practice of pathologizing any human problem has been steadily gaining momentum for years, so this isn’t surprising. At one time or another, everything is a disorder or disease. For example, homosexuality was considered a disease by the APA until 1973, and they once thought it proper to treat homosexuality with electro shock therapy! Need more examples of psychological absurdity? Check this review of the DSM-IV-TR’s section on culture bound syndromes:
Appendix I is about “culture-bound syndromes.” If you are a man (women don’t get it) from Papua New Guinea, a perceived insult could provoke you to become sick with a disorder called amok. Indian men (only, I assume, though here it doesn’t specifically say so) might go crazy from a discharge of semen. This mental disorder is called dhat. American Indians can get ghost sickness. Eskimos get pibloktoq, which includes tearing off clothes, eating feces, and fleeing from protective shelters. The Chinese get another apparently male only disorder, shenkui, caused by excessive semen loss from frequent intercourse or masturbation. Central and Latin Americans are subject to susto, which is when the soul leaves the body. Zar, which occurs in parts of Africa and Asia, is possession by spirits. Although recognized by the DSM as a mental disorder, the local population do not consider it pathological. But then they don’t have the benefit of science like the APA does…
So from this you can see that the powers that be are willing to pathologize anything, even when they know it to be nothing more than local folklore or an “urban legend” as it were. When will they create PREISS – Pop Rocks Exploding In Stomach Syndrome?
Why do I bring this stuff up, why is it relevant to us? Because an oft used non-argument for the disease theory of addiction is simply an appeal to authority. People say that the APA and others have called it a disease and that should be enough for us to accept it and move on. I judge the authority to be unreliable, with a bad track record. I demand actual proof that addiction is a disease.
Check Neuroskeptic’s Article on Personality Difficulties here: Normal? You’re Weird – Psychiatrists
Wow… things like this are such a shame, as they discredit the (occasional) real progress made by psychologists. I do think that the urge to label things and get attention for them is disingenuous and commercially-motivated, but I also think that the statistic that 78% of people could have personality disorders is not a bad thing. If anything, it is a good thing, as it shows that personality "disorders" are a common part of human nature that must be worked with, not something that afflicts a hidden subspecies of "crazies."
Well said, Benny. Many of the disorders aren't disorders at all, they're normal parts of the human experience. Knowing this, we can deal with them effectively, but believing them to be disorders or diseases, we expect them to be fixed externally.
On a side note:
Martin Seligman, a one time president of the APA, wrote a great book called "What You Can Change and What You Can't", which explains many of the areas where mental health professionals can actually help.
I have been looking at how people get the DSM classification of an Alcoholic and sent to AA as treatment so they can thoroughly follow the path of jails, institutions and death .
AA is usually “suggested” as the first type of treatment once you get the DSM classification of an Alcoholic (Dependency or Abuse). Doctors in the US have a strict set of guidelines to follow in classifying you. The guidelines are clearly marked in the link to the document provided at the bottom of this post. This is how easy it is to get that DSM classification:
1.) Admit to occasionally drinking (Step 1 pg. 4).
2.) In the past YEAR men have EVER had more than 8 drinks at one session or 4 drinks for women (pg. 4).
3.) You are classified with “Alcohol Abuse” if you have had any risk of bodily harm, relationship trouble, role failure, run-ins with the law (Step 2 pg.5)
4.) You are classified with “Alcohol Dependence” if you have any three (3) of the symptoms of not been able to stick to drinking limits, not been able to cut down or stop, shown tolerance, shown signs of withdrawal, kept drinking despite problems, spent a lot of time drinking, spent less time on other matters (Step 2 pg.5).
5.) If you admit to any of the above and are classified you are advised you have a problem and they set up follow up care to see if they can definitely give you the DSM classification of an Alcoholic (Step 3 pg. 7)
6.) In followup they determine if you are following the instructions to the letter they have suggested. Regardless if you admit to any relapses this is where they refer you to programs such as AA and you also run the risk of being sent to a specialist (Step 4 pg.7).
This is the path that people follow to get the DSM classification of “Alcoholism”, as you see it is quite easy for a social drinker to get this classification:
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/clinicians_guide.htm
(I highly suggest downloading the PDF version of this, it is still used today, it correlates to all of the Step and pg. numbers in this post)
This is the tool they use to extract this information from you. Notice they have strict guidelines on how to ask the questions and “suggestions” on how to get people to admit to being an Alcoholic:
http://www.drugabuse.gov/nidamed/screening/
(Again, I highly suggest that you download the PDF version)
These government documents show how you are coerced into AA and given the DSM Classification of an Alcoholic.
I see that you’ve been seriously researching this stuff JR – kudos on that. Isn’t it sad that when you pull back the curtain on what is called “treatment” for addiction that there’s nothing more than a manipulative 12-step sponsor sitting there?
Just thought you’d like this, Mr. Slate:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201110/psychologists-start-petition-against-dsm-5