DSM – The ‘Psychiatric Bible’ Responsible for Over Medicating the Population

If you are a parent then there is a good chance your child has been labeled with some type of disorder, whether it be mental, depressive, or hyperactive. But even if your child is “lucky” enough to dodge the onslaught of disease labeling, you can be sure that most other children around weren’t as fortunate. While there are numerous reasons for the influx of disorder-labeling such as additives in the food, toxins in the water, and chemicals in the air, one of the main reasons actually has everything to do with a simple stroke of a pen in a book known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM.

You May Have a New Disorder with the Stroke of a Pen

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is the bible of mental health as far as psychiatrists are concerned. This book possesses the definition of every single disorder known to man, and also every disorder invented by man. Similar to how lawyers are often thought to have their own language which no normal person would fully understand, this book holds a language of its own to classify people into certain categories. If you are a 296.22, you have experienced a single mild episode of major depressive disorder, while if you are a 301.83 you very close to having personality disorder.

As the decades have gone by, the amount of disorders someone can possibly have has gone up by the hundreds. Most notably, homosexuality was battled for inclusion, describing people as having a “sociopathic personality disturbance.” Later, it was replaced with a disorder called “ego-dystonic homosexuality,” a problem specifically surfacing from a source of distress.

The book is currently on its fourth edition, but the DSM-5’s planned release is coming in May of 2013. As the DSM editions continue to be released, the criteria for labeling a person for many disorders becomes much lower. Psychiatrists, the pharmaceutical industry and all of their ties love these changes, as medications are prescribed with even less effort on the medical establishment’s part. With a few simple strokes in this book, every single person in the country could soon be labeled as having a disorder, whether caught by medical “professionals” or not.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is Leading to Unnecessary Medication Use

During the 1990’s childhood ADD, a disorder ridiculously common today, exploded so much that a 700 percent increase in Ritalin and other stimulants use was seen. You may or may not be surprised to know that your child “has ADD” so long as 6 of 9 boxes from a list of symptoms are checked, symptoms like “often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly” or “often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat.”

Two other proposed disorders for the DSM-5 are “mild neurocognitive disorder” in the elderly and “disruptive mood dysregulation disorder” in kids. With the approval of these disorders, there will undoubtedly be a dramatics increase in powerful antipsychotic drug use. These drugs which breed overweight, diabetic children, rose to the top in 2008 with over $14 billion in sales, and have been pushed on millions of children since 2009 alone.

Whether more disorders are added to DSM-5 or not, it is more than expected that criteria be lowered for already existing disorders.

Additional Sources:

Allpsyche

Salon