- Social:
Columbia University
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and an editorial consultant on the DSM-5
PROFILE
Michael First
Guest
FROM Michael First
To the Point
Will the DSM-5 Redefine Who's Normal and Who's Not? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM, is an important book for psychiatrists and their patients. Published by the American Psychiatric Association in 1994, the fourth edition has had enormous influence: helping doctors determine which patients are well and which are mentally ill. In cases of illness, the DSM recommends appropriate treatments, including medicines. Wednesday's publication of the DSM-5 has divided the psychiatric profession. But high profile critics claim it's a recipe for over-diagnosis and excessive medication to the benefit of a professional clique and drug manufacturers. With an absence of scientific understanding of how the brain really works, are there better alternatives? We hear a variety of opinions.
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