FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BIAS IN PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS Website Highlights Concerns About Upcoming DSM-V February 6, 2010-Who makes the powerful decisions about what defines emotional normalcy or dysfunction? In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association is set to publish the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). The DSM, often called the therapist’s Bible, is used to diagnose mental disorders, but for a quarter of a century, the Association for Women in Psychology has raised questions about the science, ethics and implications of psychiatric diagnoses, and its Committee on Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis has just created a website to present its concerns about the upcoming DSM edition. Concerns about the new edition of the DSM-V include the secrecy surrounding its development, proposals to add questionable new diagnostic categories of mental disorder – such as “obesity” and “Parental Alienation Syndrome,” the failure to remove existing categories that cause harm and do not benefit patients, the failure to take into account the many kinds of harm that result from the use of psychiatric diagnoses, and the notion that emotional suffering comes primarily from within the individual rather than being heavily influenced by social or systemic factors. Paula J. Caplan, a psychologist and researcher at Harvard University, chairs the committee of academics, researchers and clinicians that has created the materials for the website, which is intended to provide information to mental health professionals, journalists and other interested individuals about biases and other problems in psychiatric diagnosis. The site includes critiques of specific diagnostic categories and ways that more general forms of bias, such as classism and racism, pervade the creation and use of psychiatric diagnostic categories. As new information about plans for DSM-V emerges, new material will be added. The site also includes related references, links, and announcements about conferences and publications and is at http://awpsych.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=126 The Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) is a scientific and educational professional organization of psychologists and other social scientists committed to encouraging feminist psychological research, theory and activism.
Contact: Audrey Ervin, Ph.D. Spokesperson, Association for Women in Psychology Tel. 215.431.5468 Email: audreyerv9@gmail.com
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Marxism & Psychology Research Group (MPRG) |
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