Revising the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
I am following the revision process of the DSM-V from my past blog posts. The New York Times 
published an article about the Revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th edition which is slated for publication in 2013. It has been over a decade since the manual was revised.
These are a few of the changes proposed by doctors charged with revising psychiatry’s encyclopedia of mental disorders, the guidebook that largely determines where society draws the line between normal and not normal, between eccentricity and illness, between self-indulgence and self-destruction — and, by extension, when and how patients should be treated.
Far fewer children would get a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. “Binge eating disorder” and “hypersexuality” might become part of the everyday language. (think sex rehabilitation - Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen, David Letterman, David Duchovny) And the way many mental disorders are diagnosed and treated would be sharply revised.
For months they have been the subject of intense speculation and lobbying by advocacy groups, and some proposed changes have already been widely discussed — including folding the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome into a broader category, autism spectrum disorder.
But others, including a proposed alternative for bipolar disorder in many children, were recently released. Experts said the recommendations, posted online at DSM5.org for public comment, could bring rapid change in several areas.
The article states:
One significant change would be adding a childhood disorder called temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria, a recommendation that grew out of recent findings that many wildly aggressive, irritable children who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder do not have it. Temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria is a syndrome that in recent years has been labeled childhood bipolar disorder and is actually NOT bipolar disorder. Instead, a new disorder category was created: Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria (TDD).
Nestor Lopez-Duran PhD contributes to significant political debate in the media and the blogosphere in his blog.
The misdiagnosis led many children to be given powerful antipsychotic drugs, which have serious side effects, including metabolic changes. Antipsychotic drugs are a class of medicines used to treat psychosis and other mental and emotional conditions.
Some diagnoses of bipolar disorder have been in children as young as 2, and there have been widespread reports that doctors promoting the diagnosis received consulting and speaking fees from the makers of the drugs.
Experts gave the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the manual, predictably mixed reviews. Some were relieved that the task force working on the manual — which includes neurologists and psychologists as well as psychiatrists — had revised the previous version rather than trying to rewrite it.
Others criticized the authors, saying many diagnoses in the manual would still lack a rigorous scientific basis.
Stanford Law School publishes an interesting blog on the DSM V.
