The Doctor

Initially, after examining the 8 proposed changes highlighted in the Huffington Post article, I wasn't passionate, pro or con, about any of the changes. 

I did more research and discovered the Huffington Post article only “skimmed the surface” in regards to the changes that are being proposed.  To see a list of all the proposed changes see  http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx  .   I found a couple of articles that outline the major problems that people are having with DSM 5.  See an article at “Psych Central’s” website http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/02/16/possible-dsm-changes-spark-controversy/34909.html )  and http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/

The ipetitions website details the “sticking points” that people are having with the proposed modifications.  There is one new diagnosis being proposed which, I believe, warrants further consideration before inclusion.  It is “Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.”  I oppose it because it will enable the use of powerful medications in young children for whom the drugs were not designed.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation is a disorder that is characterized by severe and recurrent outbursts of temper in response to everyday stressors.  The outbursts can either be verbal or behavioral and are considered out of proportion to the current situation.  These responses are also considered to be inconsistent with the developmental age of the client.

According to the ipetitions website children will be more “susceptible to receiving a diagnosis” once an illness is defined.  Diagnosing, in and of itself, is not necessarily a problem.  After all it’s typically the first step that is made in order to get someone the help they need.   But the inclusion of Disruptive Mood Dysregulation will allow doctors to prescribe neuroleptics to children for which the drugs were never tested.  They will merely get a smaller dose of what is prescribed for an adult.  Ask yourself "What are the long term affects of neuroleptics to the growing bodies and minds of children"

A brief search of Wikipedia came up with this information.

“A number of harmful and undesired (adverse) effects have been observed, including lowered life expectancy, extrapyramidal effects on motor control – including akathisia (an inability to sit still), trembling, and muscle weakness – weight gain, decrease in brain volume, enlarged breasts (gynecomastia) in men and milk discharge in men and women (galactorrhea due to hyperprolactinaemia), lowered white blood cell count (agranulocytosis), involuntary repetitive body movements (tardive dyskinesia), diabetes, sexual dysfunction, a return of psychosis requiring increasing the dosage due to cells producing more neurochemicals to compensate for the drugs (tardive psychosis), and a potential for permanent chemical dependence leading to psychosis worse than before treatment began, if the drug dosage is ever lowered or stopped (tardive dysphrenia).^[2 “

I know that not everything that you read in Wikipedia is true, but even if only half of the neuroleptic side effects were valid, should we prescribe them to children?  Couldn't Cognitive Behavioral Therapy be used instead?  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipsychotic to read the full entry on neuroleptics.

Christopher Lane has written a book called “Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness.”   








See http://www.amazon.com/Shyness-Normal-Behavior-Became-Sickness/dp/0300143176%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIRKJRCRZW3TANMSA%26tag%3Dpsychologytod-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0300143176 


This is Amazon’s description of this book  “In the 1970s, a small group of leading psychiatrists met behind closed doors and literally rewrote the book on their profession. Revising and greatly expanding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM for short), they turned what had been a thin, spiral-bound handbook into a hefty tome. Almost overnight the number of diagnoses exploded. The result was a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry and a massive conflict of interest for psychiatry at large. This spellbinding book is the first behind-the-scenes account of what really happened and why.  With unprecedented access to the American Psychiatric Association archives and previously classified memos from drug company executives, Christopher Lane unearths the disturbing truth: with little scientific justification and sometimes hilariously improbable rationales, hundreds of conditions—among them shyness—are now defined as psychiatric disorders and considered treatable with drugs. Lane shows how long-standing disagreements within the profession set the stage for these changes, and he assesses who has gained and what’s been lost in the process of medicalizing emotions. With dry wit, he demolishes the façade of objective research behind which the revolution in psychiatry has hidden. He finds a profession riddled with backbiting and jockeying, and even more troubling, a profession increasingly beholden to its corporate sponsors.”

The book does make one think about the long-reaching ramifications that the DSM task force can elicit.  The points that I'd like to make are that neuroleptics are dangerous and giving children a "pint-sized" version of an adult diagnosis is risky business.