in2mentalhealth

The release of DSM-5 will take place during the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2013 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, May 18-22, 2013.
The DSM-5 is the fifth edition of the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It’s the most widely used classification system in mental health worldwide and it’s used or relied upon by clinicians, researchers, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers, etc.
The APA runs a special DSM-5 website, where you can find all kind of background information.
Since the first DSM publication in 1952, the manual has always attracted praise, controversy and criticism. You can find a nice overview of all this criticism in the Wikipedia DSM page.
A few very recent articles and comments are:
April 24, David Adam in Nature: ‘Mental health: On the spectrum’. ‘Research suggests that mental illnesses lie along a spectrum, but the field’s latest diagnostic manual still splits them apart’.
April 29, Thomas Insel, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) USA: ‘Transforming Diagnosis’. ‘The DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure’ and ‘That is why NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories’.
May 4, John Horgan, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHRint): Psychiatry in Crisis! Mental Health Director Rejects Psychiatric “Bible” and Replaces With… Nothing, ‘Instead of forming fancy new programs and initiatives and alliances, leaders in mental health should perhaps do some humble, honest soul searching before they decide how to proceed’.
May 6, David Kupfer in Psychiatric News Alert: ‘David Kupfer, M.D., Responds to Criticism of DSM-5 by NIMH Director’. With a link to the the complete text of Kupfer’s statement.
May 6, Pam Belluck and Benedict Carey in The New York Times: Psychiatry’s Guide Is Out of Touch With Science, Experts Say.
Will be continued….