If you wanted to make a list of important books you should read, what would you choose? Anna Karenina, maybe? The Bible? How about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders?
It may not be at the top of your list, but the DSM, as it’s usually called, is one of the most important books in the world. It attempts to categorize, describe and give a code number to literally every problem that can occur in your mind, from schizophrenia to borderline personality disorder to something called mathematics disorder, which is essentially being so bad at math that it amounts to a mental problem.
The DSM is important not only because it is wildly ambitious but also because mental-health professionals around the world have adopted its classification system. In the U.S., it is virtually impossible to get reimbursed by an insurance company for treatment unless a mental-health professional identifies your condition by a DSM code number.
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Oh god, don’t read the DSM. It diagnoses EVERYTHING. If you scratch your head it’s in the DSM. If you jump at a loud sound – DSM. Reading it will give you a complex, which can then be diagnosed with the DSM.
As a psychology geek, the DSM is actually one my top books anyhow. Bloody interesting stuff, so much of which is rant worthy. The breadth of disorders listed, the weakness of the criteria for certain disorders (schizophrenia in particular), and some very dodgy paraphillia and sexual disorder classifications. We’re due a new one (DSM V) soonish though, it’ll be interesting to see what gets altered.
I saw a documentary on psychosis that claimed the clinical diagnosis for psychotic patients is based on a system of character traits that if you score 28 out of a list of 40, you are officially a psychopath. Some of them were fairly innocent sounding traits such as shallow emotional range, charisma and generosity. I couldn’t help thinking that this would be a brilliant quiz to put in one of those supermarket checkout women’s magazines… just to go down a checklist of innocuus sounding questions and have a scoring system at the end that says “If you answered mostly ‘A’ you are probably an axe weidling maniac who needs to be sectioned before you harm someone!”
Generally in the UK most psychiatrists use the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD10) http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/
This is a little more rational than the DSM, which has some really strange classifications in it, although it does include the multi-axial approach which is used by many intellectual disability psychiatrists where there are many layers to psychological problems
Personally I think that both have their strong points but I feel that the DSM has some classifications in it which shouldn’t really be in a psychiatric disorders handbook.
I’m in there too!!
Flapjack: Psychosis isn’t the same as psychopathy ;o). One causes your thoughts to run wild, the other is a form of antisocial personality disorder.
Psychopathy isn’t a DSM classification, by the way, though I believe antisocial personality disorder is. And there are probably more psychopaths at the top of the business world than psychopathic serial killers.
…Uhm, yes, I did read an article about psychopathy recently, why?
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DSM is one letter away from BDSM. Just think about that for a while.
rofl @sgc…is that a boob disorder?….hehehee
Dont most Derren fans have this? LOL
Berber Anna – Fair enough… this is why I wouldn’t make the grade as a Psychotherapist… I’m more likely to be the guy on the couch!
Flapjack: *grins* No worries, me too — I’d just be annoying the shrink by being an insufferable know-it-all, I suppose.
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Oy..@Rebecca…you speak for yourself