Psychiatric Labels that Never Fit…
In three years time, rape might stop being an act of individual choice and ruthless disregard for the safety and well-being of others, and become as if by magic, a mental illness. Such is the arbitrary nature of how the DSM-V will be cobbled together (see link, below), that almost any disorder is possible. I might have said this elsewhere on this blog but even if so, it bears repeating here. The authors of the DSM-V, the American Psychiatric Association, concede that after all these decades of trying, they have not been able to come up with one objective test for any mental disorder. Their claims are purely speculative, an ongoing juggernaut that promises that some time in the future, mental ‘illnesses’ can be discovered and routinely treated to recovery. Until then, the DSM by whatever version reflects the power of big pharma, the neuroses of the middle-classes, and the need to address persistent or emerging social problems. The DSM can absolve us all of our acts and omissions by casting self-responsibility asunder and replacing it with new disorders that cover-up our stuff-ups. Like our questionable choices to gamble, eat, or surf the net way too much.
Contained within the article, linked below, are these comments from Northern Territory (Australia) psychiatrist, Niall McLaren:
”The entire DSM project is an exercise in the politics of committees funded by the drug industry. I don’t know how many thousands of people spent how many millions of hours on this gigantic project. What a pity it has all been a total waste of time. Anybody can describe mental disorder – Shakespeare was good at it – but we want the keepers of our mental health [and the spenders of very large budgets] to offer something more. We want them to explain it, but they can’t.”
Also take a squizz at this related article, in the Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/making-sure-pills-go-down-and-money-flows-20100226-p96y.html
Blah! Blah! Blah!