APA to release DSM-5 at Annual Meeting (May 18-22): What next?
May 17, 2013
Post #249 Shortlink: http://wp.me/pKrrB-313
Media coverage following release of DSM-5 is compiled in Posts #251 and #252
Update: APA issued this press release today
APA Press Release No. 13-31 May 17, 2013
American Psychiatric Association Releases DSM-5, Publication of diagnostic manual culminates 14-year development process
DSM-5 is scheduled for release at the 2013 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting (May 18-22), in San Francisco. The official APA publication date is May 22.
Amazon US had been quoting a release and shipping date of May 22, but the site currently gives May 27 for both hardback and paperback editions. Amazon UK currently gives the release and shipping date for both hardback and paperback as May 31.
APA is anticipated to release DSM-5 on Saturday, May 18, with an early morning press briefing.
No heads-up yet from UK Science Media Centre, but SMC New Zealand has already put out press briefing materials here.
Australian SMC DSM-5 background briefing materials and presentation here:
BACKGROUND BRIEFING: DSM 5 – Psychiatric bible or fatally flawed?
DSM-5 will launch; a lot of stuff will be written about it.
What next?
On Monday, May 13, the Division of Clinical Psychology, a division of the British Psychological Society, published a “Position Statement on the Classification of Behaviour and Experience in Relation to Functional Psychiatric Diagnoses, Time for a Paradigm Shift.”
You can download a copy of this document here: Position Statement on Diagnosis.
Two new platforms for discussion launched this week:
The first, Dx Summit website. Article on Mad in America here DxSummit Officially Launches, by Jonathan Raskin, May 15.
DxSummit Officially Launches
by Diagnostic Summit Committee
DSM-5 Is Widely Criticized, and Pursuit Of Alternatives in Mental Health Care Is Underway
For Immediate Release:
The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association is being released on May 22, 2013. It is the fifth revision of this widely influential manual for diagnosing mental distress and illness, and has been the subject of national and international criticism for the quality of its science, its criteria for defining disorders and categories, its rationale for inclusion or exclusion of particular symptoms or features, and the considerable inflation in its number of diagnosable disorders since the original DSM was published in the 1950s. Over the past several decades, there has been sharp criticism of the various DSM revisions, but in the case of DSM-5, a critical mass of scholarly opposition has reached a tipping point, including an unprecedented rebuke by the U.S. government’s National Institute of Mental Health, which has stated it will be reorienting away from research that involves the DSM-5. For many mental health professionals it seems clear that fresh thinking–about ways to possibly improve the DSM, prospects for developing possible alternatives to it, and what those prospects might look like–are called for. Regardless of where one stands on these issues, it is clear that new approaches to diagnosis are sorely needed, as both a national and global health concern.
To that end, a new website (dxsummit.org) has been launched to help create an on-line, on-going global forum for scholarly and professional dialogue of humane approaches to mental health diagnosis. Sponsored by the Diagnostic Summit Committee (DSC), a national committee of concerned psychologists, this collaborative effort provides an opportunity for the widest possible input and deliberation of mental health diagnosis from the ground-up. Offering blogs, discussion posts, and psychiatric and psychological articles by stakeholders and leaders in the field, dxsummit.org will open up the discussion of diagnosis to its full range of possibilities, from brain science to cultural variations to the examination of normal human responses to difficult life challenges. The website, underwritten by the efforts of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (SHP) will be a platform for international debate and consensus of comprehensive and valid approaches to mental health diagnosis.
Media inquiries should be directed to Dr. Frank Farley, co-chair of the DSC, and former President of the American Psychological Association and the SHP, at frank.farley@comcast.net or (215) 668-7581; or Dr. Donna Rockwell.
The second new platform is Tom Nickel’s DSMOOC, introduced by Allen Frances, MD, in a May 16 blog at Huffington Post:
DSM-5: Where Do We Go From Here?
Dr Frances writes:
“That’s why I am so pleased that Thomas Nickel Ph.D., Head of Continuing Education at Alliant International University, has set up a new interactive DSMOOC web site that will undoubtedly become the focal point for diagnostic discussion and remediation. Check it out.
Dr. Nickel writes:
“Now that DSM-5 is about to be released, it is time to determine how best to reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the risk that people will be misdiagnosed and improperly treated.”
“Solutions will not come from one group or one project. As one of what will hopefully be many initiatives, we have developed a MOOC (Massive Open Online Conversation) to bring together concerned clinicians and the public in order to give voice to the many different perspectives about psychiatric diagnosis.”
“Our intention is to stimulate conversations that will lead to useful products. People will find each other and work together to produce materials that can empower patients and influence practitioners. Suggestions for guidelines, practice standards, public policy, and research will hopefully emerge. Certainly, we will make every effort to facilitate this.”
“Previous MOOCs have resembled traditional university courses with lectures and quizzes on technical topics like artificial intelligence or mechanical engineering. Until now, MOOCs have not been closely linked to events happening in the world, nor have they been a channel for real world action. In this regard, a MOOC focused on DSM-5 may be pioneering.”
“Our MOOC will consist of about 15 channels, each one dedicated to one area of significant change or controversy in DSM-5. Each will provide background information; videotaped discussions by leading experts and consumer advocates; references; links; vivid portrayals of psychiatric diagnosis in films and fiction; and an opportunity for discussion. There are even Google Hangouts all set up for study groups to use.”
“Our DSMOOC should be equally interesting for professionals and consumers- and will provide a uniquely open forum for interaction between them.”
“We hope that you will roll up your virtual sleeves, join us at: http://discuss.thementalhealthmanual.com
Follow DSMOOC on Twitter @RethinkingDSM
DSM-5 Development site
The APA’s DSM-5 Development site will remain online.
On May 15, the Home Page text was revised and the site’s content is being reorganized. As everything on the site is nailed down with Licensing and Permissions clauses, you will need to visit the site to read what new text has gone up so far. No doubt APA would like to register the trademark rights to hex #260859, too.
See: UNDER CONSTRUCTION: DSM-5 Implementation and Support
According to what little text is currently displaying, the site will be reorganized to serve as a resource for stakeholders: providers, payers, researchers and patients.
New content is planned to include FAQs, information on implementation of the manual and a mechanism for submitting questions and feedback. Professional users will be able to provide feedback on online assessment measures; there will be links to educational webinars and training courses for US and other countries. The site will list DSM-5 corrections.
Additional media coverage from this week
Too much to include this week, so just a few links:
Concern for the implications of DSM-5‘s new Somatic Symptom Disorder was highlighted by Allen Frances in a Diane Rehm radio broadcast, on May 14. The programme also included an interview with DSM-5 Task Force Chair, David J Kupfer, MD, on the understanding that he would not be engaging with Dr Frances.
The Diane Rehm Show May 14, 2013: http://tinyurl.com/byxupm6
Listen again: http://thedianerehmshow.org/audio-player?nid=17729 [51.40 mins including listener phone in]
The site page includes an excerpt from the book “Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life” by Allen Frances. Published by William Morrow. Copyright © 2013 by Allen Frances. Reprinted with permission.
Somatic Symptom Disorder also featured in a Susan Donaldson James’ article, for ABC News Health, on May 14:
Brain Science Upstages DSM-V, So-Called Mental Health ‘Bible’
Christopher Lane, Ph.D., published The Distortion of Grief on May 14, which has been widely syndicated.
DSM-5: Mental Health Professionals, Critics Face Off Over Upcoming Psychiatric Manual by Lindsey Tanner at Huffington Post, May 15:
“The psychiatric industry, allied with Big Pharma, have massively misled the public,” the Occupy Psychiatry group contends. Organizers include Alaska lawyer Jim Gottstein, who has long fought against overuse of psychiatric drugs.
“The new manual “will drastically expand psychiatric diagnosis, mislabel millions of people as mentally ill, and cause unnecessary treatment with medication,” says the website for the Committee to Boycott the DSM-5, organized by New York social worker Jack Carney.”
More on Occupy APA from Jack Carney, DSW, for Mad in America, May 17:
Occupy APA in San Francisco: Joined in Spirit
dx revision watch 