Mental Health Dsm?

I know it gets updated reguarly and there are different versions, but how do you feel about it?

I know a lot of people disagree with the way things are classified and diagnosed.

Somewhere there is a thread about this (back from when the new version came out but I can't find it. If you find it before I do, let's merge this.

No luck from any searches. I know the DSM is updated somewhat often though.

Wasn't homosexuality classified under paraphilias somewhat recently?

DSM V is the current version. My personal take is that it's a move to make the condition known as "breathing" a medicable illness or disorder to profit from.

you mean lack of breathing? like side effects from panic like feelings of suffocation?

Do you have a link to this, or is the inclination based off of something you saw in particular?

he was joking most likely

I think people are moving away from the DSM and seeing what works and what doesn't

ah. went straight over my head.

People moving away from the DSM?? lol maybe on bluelight....

ParappaTheRapper said:

ah. went straight over my head.

People moving away from the DSM?? lol maybe on bluelight....

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That's okay. You really should read the book sometime though. I think everyone should take the time to know what is used to label and otherwise possibly detriment or advantage them if they so choose to be labelled and possibly have a detriment or advantage applied to them by someone who has read and understands it.

Me personally, it showed me that..................

I don't think I have any further motivation to be labelled and have serious detriment (in my case, anyway. I've learned to say at least "I'm glad some people are helped by it" and leave it there) by such a book.

Where were you able to get a copy of the latest edition?

If I remember correctly, someone was awesome enough to share in the documents section of Scribd. I read a lot..... It's actually sorta replaced all the other modes of living I once held on to. Well, that and my own personal inability to be "okay" in the face of chemically induced narcolepsy and trouble swallowing while being told "it's cool, you're young" but potato potáto. Oh boy, I'm so glad some people are still helped by it.

^Word. The overlap in symptomology can get counterproductive sometimes though too.

ParappaTheRapper said:

^Word. The overlap in symptomology can get counterproductive sometimes though too.

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Yes.

In my particular case, I feel like it was doctor's that convinced me that apparently I'd be okay if I could just get enough of the "right" pills in me for over half my life.

I'm sure that it was not intentional, and I'm also sure that the adaptation was my own doing. I still have issues with the book.

The main thing it taught me was: by the time they had me picking up nearly $4,000 in drugs every month that it just wasn't going to stop and that their "Bible" (the DSM-V) would never allow it to stop if I didn't end it then and there. My conclusion was: I better learn to accept myself or I probably would end up not "making it" after all and that I don't think I trust that they actually had my best interests in mind.

As opposed to overlapping symptomology as the main issue, my personal qualm with that book is that I see how nearly everyone is diagnosable as "maladjusted" in varying ways at varying times in their lives and possibly even during each day... That much is very problematic in my eyes.

I don't particularly care for people who aren't "normal" to judge others as not being "normal". It gets to looking like the whole trade has gone back to the days of "witch doctors" anymore. Couple that with the fact that doctor's invariably tried to bully me around through my life, as if they held the only keys? It just stopped adding up, after reading their books and learning a little bit about what had happened.

I'm with you on the stigma of mental illness is horrid, but you can't deny that some symptomology does lead certain people to medication or CBT that really helps them.

The DSM is terrible, inconsistent, faceless, box ticking, life altering, reductionist shite.
I have read multiple editions, cover to cover. I have also studied the biomedical basis of the 'disorders' it includes, which vary too often to be relied upon. 'Homosexuality' was considered a mental illness until VERY recently.
The vague use of language and yet overly strict definitions limit it further.

I have had countless 'professionals' look at me in shock when realising their mighty manual can be understood, analysed, dissected and have its flaws exposed by a patient. Especially one who, from the perspective of the DSM and its Gospel spiel, should present as an exaggerated, stereotypical caricature of their illness, neatly tucked into a category without overlap, in a chronically acute episodic state of psychosis and affective mood.

'You tick the boxes for an illness with the dreaded 'schizo' prefix - yet are functional and not a serial killer!'

I have even been asked, by M.D. Psychiatrists for help... with my own diagnosis!

I do regret learning the almost Autistic nature of the manual supposed to aid in my 'treatment'.
Once one knew the red flags, necessary symptoms and limitations of each potential Dx, it became almost humorous. I, the patient, could then steer the 'professional' towards a certain outcome - often one with a better prognosis and greater societal acceptance. (Schizo-spectum to Bi-Polar to Cyclothymia was the path I chose).
It only resulted in not receiving the help best suited to the real problem.

Why does society instantly fear anything prefixed by 'schizo'?
Bi-Polar is becoming more understood and accepted, and with it: Mania.
Yet, if the psychosis is present without Mania - it becomes categorised as 'Schizoaffective' and is far less accepted by society.

Eugh.
Change is needed on a far greater level than the abolishment of DSM and its obsessive categorisation and quantification of something so subjective and qualitative as the human mind.

Awesome summary. Read the book. My own Dx changed up so many times that I finally learned to easily discredit everything and think of myself as.........

"Human"

I also learned to accept my own, deeply flawed nature. It seemed like self acceptance was my main fault and it began to get offensive, the cycle of drug, side effect, additional drug, more side effects, extra drugs. (6 scripts by the end of it all, side effects were "no big deal because you're young") and a tendency to believe that any field relying on this manual was a fraud. The DSM-V and my review of the new, "improved" edition sealed it and I'm now "sans shrink" and......

Life is finally good, IMHO. Imperfect perfection. I've never been happier. I learned to be glad that it helps some people. I'll leave it at that.

^Golden. Fantastic post.