5/20/2013

The New DSM V - Helping Patients or Hurting Them?

By: Richard Failla, Chief Executive Officer
It is interesting to follow all the articles about the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM V). We are seeing more criticism about DSM V then we have about any other previous manual revision. Actually, the criticism is not new. Almost every edition has had its critics going back to the early 1990’s when 'The Selling of the DSM', a book by Stuart Kirk, and 'Making us Crazy', a book by Herb Kutchins, appeared on the scene. What makes the current criticism of note is that the attacks are coming from within the Profession of Psychiatry. One of the leading psychiatric researchers who was in charge of developing the DSM IV, Allen Frances, says that the authors for the DSM V have failed to ask the most important question: Will the new diagnosis help patients or harm them?