Allen Frances, Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force lets loose on the DSM-5. He acknowledges the noxious effects of professional interests on research and practice in a way that is rarely seen from leaders of his stature. [emphasis mine] This is the saddest moment in my 45 year career of studying, practicing, and teaching psychiatry. The Board of … Continue reading Intellectual conflicts of interest
Tag: Mental disorder
50% of the equation
Forbes (?!?!) covers Pat Deegan's efforts to empower mental health patients by guiding them into playing a larger role in their care decisions and participating in their health care records. ...I realized that we are at an important point in the history of medicine. Paper medical records are being replaced by digitized information organized into Electronic Health Records (EHRs). … Continue reading 50% of the equation
The medical model and recovery
Yesterday's post about the disease model and recovery got me thinking about complaints that treatment is not medical enough. It's worth noting that mental health treatment has a medical model and these patients believe it's been harmful to them. What they want is something more like the holistic lifestyle approach, peer support and talk therapy that one … Continue reading The medical model and recovery
“Disease” and recovery
“Once I became my diagnosis, there was no one left to recover.” Yesterday's Pat Deegan post led me to Dr. Daniel Fisher's work on mental illness recovery. He promotes an "empowerment" model of recovery that he contrasts with a "rehabilitation" model of recovery. According to this vision, one is capable of recovering from the mental … Continue reading “Disease” and recovery
Hope and Recovery
Pat Deegan reflects on her own experience an shares about the need for hope in recovery: He said, I should retire from life and avoid stress. I have come to call my psychiatrist's pronouncement a "prognosis of doom". He was condemning me to a life of handicaptivity wherein I was expected to take high dose … Continue reading Hope and Recovery
Coming of Age on Zoloft
An interesting take on anti-depressants from a writer who has benefited from them: The mainstreaming of medication has bred confusion about what’s normal. In some sectors, we’ve grown so vigilant about the possibility of having a mental disorder that this vigilance becomes counterproductive, a source of anxiety in itself. Every negative emotion becomes a potential sign or … Continue reading Coming of Age on Zoloft
Even more on the DSM-V
The Fix follows up on the previous piece about the coming changes in the DSM-V. The writer captures my concerns: I don’t foresee any negative results from dropping those two misguided terms. (abuse and dependence) But what does concern me is the fact that rather than still having two separate and distinct conditions—one, a short-term, … Continue reading Even more on the DSM-V
Recovery Review 