(Photo: FGMB) |
Diagnoses
of psychiatric conditions like ADHD have increased explosively in recent years.
Dutch experts say boisterous or easily-distracted children are being wrongly
labelled as patients, largely to make money for pharmaceutical companies. They
are afraid the new internationally-used manual for psychiatry unnecessarily
brands even more healthy people as sick.
In 2008,
Professor Roel Verheul, an expert in the field of personality disorders, was
proud to be asked to take part in the preparations for the fifth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, in April
this year, he and Canadian colleague John Livesley resigned from the
personality disorder working group after having repeatedly criticized – to no
avail - the contents of the US ‘bible of psychiatry’.
Guesswork
Professor
Verheul’s main complaint is that the entries in DSM-5 are too complicated and
fail to make diagnosis simpler. The danger is that psychiatrists will all apply
their own sets of symptoms - precisely what the manual is supposed to prevent.
He told Dutch TV programme EenVandaag: “We’re
concerned that it’s going to come down to guesswork, that different therapists
will reach different diagnoses for the same patient.”
The manual
also contains a large number of new symptoms which, according to Verheul, are
not properly scientifically founded. He says they need to be supported by more
empirical evidence before they are published.
Proliferation
Others have
also warned of a proliferation of new psychiatric conditions, leading to people
who have little wrong with them being classed as patients. Psychologist Laura
Batstra of the University of Groningen says: “The number of psychiatric diagnoses
and the use of medication have increased tremendously in recent years, in DSM-3
the number of diagnoses among adults was increased, in DSM-4 the same happened
with children”. The third
and fourth editions were published in 1987 and 2000.
Since the
year 2000, the number of children diagnosed with the concentration disorder
ADHD has increased exponentially, as did the use of the anti-ADHD drug Ritalin.
Batstra believes the vast majority of these children do not have a medical
problem and are erroneously being made to take medication.
Inflation
Professor
Verheul notes: “You have
to be careful of diagnostic inflation. For example, it’s understandable that 1
percent of the population can be diagnosed as schizophrenic or that 2 or maybe
3 or 4 percent of children can be diagnosed with ADHD. But if you broaden the
criteria to the point where large groups of people are labelled with these
conditions, you create a kind of inflationary process. This is making
psychiatry less credible in many people’s eyes.”
Laura
Batstra argues that the manufacturers of Ritalin have played a questionable
role in the diagnosis of ADHD: “It’s
really out of control. The pharmaceutical industry got in on the act and has
been promoting the condition among girls. In DSM-5 the categories have been
defined even more broadly, so I think it’s good that this is now being
discussed.”
Concern
US research
shows, moreover, that 72 percent of the specialists contributing to the manual
have ties with the pharmaceutical industry. These ties vary from being paid as
guest speakers at congresses to owning shares in drug companies. Speaking on
EenVandaag, Batstra said this was a cause for concern: “We know,
for instance, that research paid for by the pharmaceutical industry is five
times more likely to describe the effects of medication positively than
independent research.”
The fifth
edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is
expected to appear next year.
"The Recalibration of 'Shoulds' " – Jan 26, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
Related Article:
"The Recalibration of 'Shoulds' " – Jan 26, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) -(Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Pedal wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.)
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