So with DSM-V coming out in May, there's a lot of changes happening on it. Some you may have heard about:
- Aspergers Syndrome no longer exists as a diagnosis-people diagnosed with it will either fall under a new diagnosis, Social Communications Disorder, or be diagnosed with High Functioning Autism
- A new diagnosis called "Disruptive Tempter Deregulation Disorder" will diagnose children having temper tantrums as having a mental disorder. Then again, I suppose they were only misdiagnosed with "Pediatric Bipolar Disorder" before hand (And do not get my started on PBD. No, I don't think children with "PBD" have Bipolar disorder. Really. And PBD isn't in DSM 4 either...it's just a stupid fad created by psychiatrists who don't even diagnose with DSM 4's criteria, where "eating more carbs" is apparently a symptom of bipolar.)
- Normal grief after a loved one dies becomes Major Depressive Disorder...which it wasn't in DSM 4
- Normal forgetting which happens at old age is also a psychiatric disorder-Minor Neurocognitive Disorder...but there is no cure for it, or treatment, and all it will do is panic a whole load of people.
- Eating more than you usually do twelve times in three months means you have "Binge Eating Disorder". And no, this does not take into account the holiday period.
- People who abuse substances for the first time are placed in the same groups as addicts with serious problems.
- Changes in the Anxiety definition...meaning that everyday worries can become an anxiety disorder treatable with psychiatric medication.
I'm not so sure about half of these, really. I don't live in a country where DSM is used to diagnose (Over here, we use IDC or something...) so it won't really affect me much. Still, these changes worry me. I'd like to think that psychiatrists will have some sense and work out what the difference is between a genuine psychiatric disorder and what isn't...but well...