Psychiatry’s handbook, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has some really weird stuff in it.  It, at least, should be questioned. Not a lot of science here.

Great article breaking down some of the disorders that are listed by T.J. Nelson in his blog post: Weird Stuff in the DSM-5 

“What is going on? Some of these are mental disorders and some are neurological diseases. It looks like a mishmash of stuff selected at random. What, if anything, are the criteria for including something in the DSM?”

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In his book ‘A Dose of Sanity’ Dr. Sydney Walker Jr. tells how the so called diseases in the DSM are voted upon as to whether or not they be included in the book each year.  It is not a matter of the disease being verified as an actual sickness.  This problem is largely due to the fact that there is no evidence or test to show any of the mental disorders listed actually have a physical basis. 

Dr. Thomas Szasz:

“The ostensible validity of the DSM is reinforced by psychiatry’s claim that mental illnesses are brain diseases—a claim supposedly based on recent discoveries in neuroscience, made possible by imaging techniques for diagnosis and pharmacological agents for treatment. This is not true. There are no objective diagnostic tests to confirm or disconfirm the diagnosis of depression; the diagnosis can and must be made solely on the basis of the patient’s appearance and behavior and the reports of others about his behavior.”

Another great article in Psychology Today from August 2019. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-control/201908/mental-health-diagnosis-just-say-no

Mental Health Diagnosis: Just Say No! by Timothy A Carey Ph.D.

“In DSM-IV, there is no assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or no mental disorder.” (APA, 2000, p. xxxi). So, the categories that DSM offers us do not have boundaries demarcating one disorder from another or, indeed, one disorder from no disorder. This is an extraordinary revelation. This means, according to the DSM, there is no assumption that the category “schizophrenia” has boundaries that separate it from other mental disorders or from not having schizophrenia.

That is a really weird statement from the authors of the DSM.  They are essentially saying that they don’t know.  Through the rest of the article Dr Carey shows, with excellent references that there exists no pathological basis for any of the ‘diseases’ listed in DSM-IV or DSM-V or any of the earlier issues. 

Medical doctors and psychiatrists have been speaking out against these manuals for years.  It seems that naming a difficulty that someone has gives them a reason for it to not be their fault or not be responsible for fixing it.  Then here comes Big Pharma to the rescue with the drug of the week.

People get depressed. People have problems in life.  Drugs rarely fix these issues.  

Please question so called ‘science’.  Ask your doctor questions about anything he or she may prescribe. 

Do research into side effects. [/read]