Coalition for DSM-5 Reform
Media coverage on the Coalition for DSM-5 Reform initiative is being collated below, as it comes to my attention.
Additional coverage will appear at the top of these links
Media coverage February 2012
A new chapter for psychiatrists’ bible
Amy Corderoy | February 19, 2012
American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association Monitor
Protesting proposed changes to the DSM
February 2012, Vol 43, No. 2, Print version: page 42
Media coverage January 2012
Guidelines debated for mental disorders
Proposed new definitions could alter diagnosis
Mark Roth | January 30, 2012
Psychiatric Group Push to Redefine Mental Illness Sparks Revolt
Elizabeth Lopatto | January 24, 2012
An effort that promises to broaden the definitions of mental illnesses is spurring a revolt among health-care professionals in the U.S. and the U.K…
…The October letter and the June criticism by the British Psychological Association, have a spirited exchange that resulted this month in the critics calling for an independent scientific review of the more controversial diagnosis changes.
“It really isn’t possible to identify what kind of outside group would have the expertise and range of discipline and disorders we’re covering to do that kind of outside review,” Regier said by telephone. Still, he said the panel members are interested in the criticisms of their proposals and “we’re not taking them lightly.”
APA Leading the Charge Against ‘Medicalizing’ DSM-5
James Bradshaw, Senior Editor | January 16, 2012
…Opposition to such broadening of mental disorder definitions is not limited to those in the health field. The majority of psychologists and often the entire field of psychology are viewed as liberal, but revelations about the proposed revisions are drawing fire across the political spectrum, including the CATO Institute, a conservative think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. CATO is concerned that lowering the diagnostic threshold for many mental disorders could create an avalanche of claims against employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act and workers’ compensation laws.
CATO pointed to behavioral liabilities employers already face, including a trucking company that was sued for not hiring drivers with a history of drinking problems. The online comments did not specifically recommend that employers or management personnel consider signing the APA petition, but it included an active link to go to the petition site.
Karen Franklin, Ph.D. | January 10, 2012
Emboldened DSM-5 critics issue public challenge
Karen Franklin, Ph.D. is a forensic psychologist and adjunct professor at Alliant University in Northern California.
Dr Franklin also blogs at Psychology Today Witness, A blog about forensic psychology
In October, I reported on the Society for Humanistic Psychology’s online petition urging the American Psychiatric Association to reconsider the mental illness expansions and biomedical emphasis proposed for its new diagnostic manual, due out in 2013.
Since then, the effort has taken off like wildfire. More than 10,000 people have signed the petition, and the fledgling Coalition for DSM-5 Reform has mushroomed to include 41 concerned mental health organizations in the United States, Britain and Denmark.
Mental Health Systems Under Stress
By Rob Waters
As the long-awaited next revision of the book known as the bible of mental health treatment lurches closer to publication, an undercurrent of criticism has exploded into a revolt by members of U.S. and British psychological and counseling organizations. The chief complaint is that the revision lowers diagnostic criteria, creates “subthreshold” disorders, and generally makes it easier to find a diagnosis that allows for the medication of patients.
Media coverage December 2011
DSM-5
Therapists revolt against psychiatry’s bible
Mental health professionals say new diagnoses will lead to overmedication
Rob Waters | December 27, 2011
Psychiatric Times
The Debate Over DSM-5: We Invite Your Views
Editor | December 16, 2011
In a brief Editorial entitled The Debate Over DSM-5: We Invite Your Views, James L. Knoll IV, MD, Editor, Psychiatric Times, clarifies Psychiatric Times’s position with regard to the journal’s intent behind posting the many blogs about DSM-5 that appear on its web site.
Dr Knoll encourages and invites readers to submit their viewpoints on DSM-5 “in the spirit of collegial and scientific investigation.” Dr Knoll writes that manuscripts and letters sent to editor@PsychiatricTimes.com will be reviewed for possible publication either in print or on www.PsychiatricTimes.com.
(Registration for Psychiatric Times editorial required)
The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues
Revised DSM-5 Could Open Up Wider Legal Claims
Walter Olson | December 5, 2011
The American Psychiatric Association is revising its highly influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, currently known as DSM-IV (the fifth version will be “DSM-V” or, since a switch to Arabic numbering is planned, “DSM-5″). Nearly 8,000 persons have signed a petition, sponsored by the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association, which challenges the revision’s proposed widening of the definitions of mental disorder. The letter associated with the petition warns that the revision proposes to lower diagnostic thresholds for many categories of disorder without good reason, as well as introducing new constructs such as “Internet Addiction Disorder” that have “no basis in the empirical literature.” The expansion could lead to inappropriate medical treatment as well as other ill effects.
1 Boring Old Man Blog
1 Boring Old Man | December 5, 2011
1 Boring Old Man Blog
1 Boring Old Man | December 3, 2011
TO: The DSM-5 Task Force
FROM: 1boringoldman
RE: The DSM-5 Revisions
The APA’s responses to criticisms of the DSM-5 Task Force have changed over the last several years. The 2009 article [Setting the Record Straight: A Response to Frances Commentary on DSM-V] was a contentious ad hominem attack on the motives of their critics, Drs. Allen Frances and Robert Spitzer, who guided the previous revisions. Since then, cooler heads have prevailed. In both their response to the Society for Humanistic Psychology and the American Counseling Association, they’ve been more polite, launching into extensive descriptions of the processes followed by the Task Force. They seem to think that their critics just don’t understand, that the complaints that the Task Force is running a closed shop dominated by idiosyncratic views of mental illness are unfounded. They reassure us that they are indeed listening to what others are saying about their work and the repeated calls for an independent external review are unnecessary. While this improvement in tone is a welcome change, the problem remains. They are running a closed shop dominated by idiosyncratic views of mental illness – politely…
Seattle Times
New DSM may encourage overtreatment, psychologists say
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is undergoing its fifth major revision in the more than 60 years.
Erin Allday | San Francisco Chronicle | December 1, 2011
Media coverage November 2011
Behavioral.net
Jack Carney, DSW
Dr. Carney is a practicing social worker with 42 years of experience in the field.
Jack Carney, DSW | November 30, 2011
Which of us is crazy and who isn’t and why? These are the questions that psychiatrists and the rest of us have been trying to answer since the late 18th century and the advent of moral treatment, when mad men and women were unchained and treated as human beings. One hundred years later, Emil Kraepelin actually drew a line demarcating one group from the other: on the one side, were those individuals who experienced hallucinations, delusions; were affectively dysregulated; and cognitively disorganized, i.e., had disturbed speech and attention deficits. On the other side of the line was everybody else, i.e., those whose behavior was normative…
SFGate home of the San Francisco Chronicle
Revision of psychiatric manual under fire
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer | November 26, 2011
Health Blog
WSJ’s blog on health and the business of health
Psychiatric Manual Revision Pushes Ahead Amid Continued Concerns
Shirley S. Wang | November 23, 2011
The American Psychiatric Association’s years-long efforts to revamp its big book of diagnoses has been fraught with controversy.
Critics have said that the committee charged with the fifth full revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, known as the DSM, is being too secretive and trying to make too many changes, among other concerns.
Psychiatric Times
ON DSM-5
DSM-5: APA Responds to American Counseling Association Concerns
Psychiatric Times | November 23, 2011
On November 21, 2011, John Oldham, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), wrote a response letter to Don W. Locke, EdD, president of the American Counseling Association, who had some concerns with proposed revisions for DSM-5.
Dr Locke’s letter of November 8 was referenced in a recent blog post by Allen Frances, MD. Below is the full text of the letter from the APA. Click here for the original pdf. Psychiatric Times invites interested parties to submit your views for publication in the DSM-5 blog, or by writing in the comment box below…
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
Psychology Today
Science Isn’t Golden
Matters of the mind and heart
Challenging of DSM-5 Growing Fast
Many Divisions of American Psychological Association Support Anti-DSM Petition
Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D. | November 21, 2011
Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., a clinical and research psychologist, is an Associate at Harvard University’s DuBois Institute and a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Psychiatric Times
DSM-5: Petitions, Predictions, and Prescriptions
By Ronald Pies, MD | 21 November 2011
Dr Pies is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times and Professor in the psychiatry departments of SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston.
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
Psychology Today
DSM5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 18, 2011
The users’ revolt against DSM 5 marches on and just became a much, much bigger parade. There are 120,000 counselors in the US—more than 20% of all mental health professionals—and DSM 5 is integral to their daily work. The American Counseling Association’ DSM 5 Task Force, skillfully led by Dr Dayle Jones, has made a meticulous study of DSM 5 and is alarmed by many of its suggestions. The following open letter from the ACA president to the president of the American Psychiatric Association, quoted in full, was just posted. It nicely summarizes what is wrong with DSM 5 and recommends essential corrective actions. How long can DSM 5 afford to battle with its users?
1 Boring Old Man Blog
1 Boring Old Man | November 18, 2011
I’ve only included three points from the American Counseling Association letter below. The whole thing is thoughtful and deserves a read, particularly if you haven’t caught up on the many objections to the DSM-5…
Psychiatry Update (Australia)
DSM-5 leader admits some diagnoses “merely hypotheses”
Michael Slezak | November 17, 2011
Many of the proposed changes to the DSM are merely “scientific hypotheses intended to be tested”, admits the vice-chair of the manual’s taskforce, saying some proposals have “not been as well tested as we would like”.
The controversial comments by Dr Darrel A Regier come amid growing furore over the proposed changes, with an anti-DSM-5 petition attracting over 6,000 signatures.
Earlier coverage from Psychiatry Update:
Thousands petition against DSM
Sarah Colyer | November 3, 2011
To view full articles on Psychiatry Update, you need to be logged in and a registered Healthcare Practitioner.
Newsworks
Expanding catalog of mental disorders worries some
Maiken Scott | November 16, 2011
The so-called bible of psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is getting a make-over. The latest version, DSM 5, will come out in 2013. In the meantime, conflicts over which diagnoses should be added, removed or changed are heating up.
Thousands of mental health professionals who are not happy with the direction of the new DSM are signing an online petition…
Irish Medical Times
Pat Kelly is Web Editor and Sub Editor at Irish Medical Times
DSM-V revisions may ‘stigmatise eccentric people’
Pat Kelly | November 15, 2011
American Counseling Association
ACA blogs, written by counselors, for counselors
Paul R. Peluso is a counselor and Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at Florida Atlantic University
A Letter to my Colleagues on the DSM-5
Paul Peluso | November 15, 2011
When I read the response to the criticisms offered by Dr. Darrel A. Regier, vice-chair of the DSM-5 task force that the DSM is “a set of scientific hypotheses that are intended to be tested” I became deeply concerned. My first thought was: “When I go to my physician, I don’t want her to have a hypothesized diagnosis that she is going to test on me, I want her to know what is wrong and how to fix it!” And while Dr. Regier’s comment (and a subsequent one that he “hoped” that there would be regular updates to DSM 5, like software) might have been meant to ameliorate the criticism against DSM-5, the reality is that once it is published they will go from being “editable hypotheses” to “diagnostic canon” that insurance companies, government agencies, and courts will all hold clinicians to (to say nothing of the pharmaceutical industry), which will have serious consequences for the entire field. The problem is that the process and its proposed remedy fails to take into consideration the criticisms against it: namely, that it has been based on VERY shaky science (if any at all).
This should concern us all.
Russell Friedman is Executive Director of The Grief Recovery Institute, and co-author of The Grief Recovery Handbook, When Children Grieve, and Moving On.
Psychology Today
Broken Hearts
Exploring myths and truths about grief, loss, and recovery.
by Russell Friedman
Speaking out on behalf of millions of unsuspecting grievers
From Travesty to Potential Tragedy
Russell Friedman | November 4, 2011
The intent of this blog post is to encourage you to read and sign a petition titled, Open Letter to the DSM-5. We are particularly focused on the proposed change in the bereavement exclusion which is one of the major protests in the petition. You can skip the blog and go directly to the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/
The Dangerous DSM-5 Bereavement Exclusion Train Must Be Derailed BEFORE It Causes Permanent Harm To Unsuspecting Grievers
We are: John W. James and Russell Friedman, co-founders of The Grief Recovery Institute Educational Foundation, and co-creators of The Grief Recovery Method®. We are also co-authors of The Grief Recovery Handbook and When Children Grieve [both published by HarperCollins] and Moving On [M. Evans].
Labor Related blog
David Foley’s Labor and Employment Law Blog
David Foley | November 12, 2011
DSM5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
DSM 5- ‘Living Document’ or ‘Dead on Arrival: ‘untested ‘scientific hypotheses’ must be dropped
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 11, 2011
News flash From Medscape Medical News—“APA Answers DSM-5 Critics”—a defense of DSM-5 offered by Darrel A. Regier, MD, vice-chair of the DSM-5 Task Force. Wonderful news that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is attempting to address the fact that DSM-5 alarms many of its potential users—it is long past time for an open dialog.
Unfortunately, however, Dr Regier dodges the concerns that must be addressed if DSM-5 is to become a safe and credible document. Five simple questions were previously posed to APA with a request for straight answers…
also at
Psychiatric Times
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
DSM-5: Living Document or Dead on Arrival
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 11, 2011
DSM5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
The User’s Revolt Against DSM 5
will it work?
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 10, 2011
When it comes to DSM 5, experience has proven conclusively that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) will not attend to the science, evaluate the risks, or listen to reason. A user’s revolt has become the last and only hope for derailing the worst of the DSM 5 suggestions…
…Will the petition work?
USA Today
Psychologists challenge proposed new diagnoses in DSM-5
Rita Rubin, Special for USA TODAY | November 10, 2011
Forbes
The New Mental Health Disorders Manual Is Driving Psychologists Nuts
Forbes | November 10, 2011
The new manual of mental disorders coins bizarre new psychological disorders, lowers the threshold for diagnosing old ones, and has some critics pulling their hair out…
Psychology Today
DSM-5 in Distress
APA Responds Lamely to the Petition to Reform DSM 5
How about straight answers to simple questions?
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 8, 2011
Before you take that pill
New Questionable Diagnoses on the Horizon from the DSM-5 Committee
Doug Bremner | November 8, 2011
The Great DSM-5 Personality Bazaar
James Phillips, MD | November 7, 2011
“Evaluating the evaluation
There is something quite elegant about the DSM-5 Personality Disorders diagnostic system—an architectonic of divisions, subdivisions, and sub-subdivisions. On the other hand, for all their scholastic erudition, the work group have created a monster—a bloated, pedantic, cumbersome diagnostic instrument that will never be used by anyone working in the hurly-burly of clinical practice. Just imagine doing a routine new-patient evaluation and trying to include the personality disorder assessment, each of the first two criteria with its many-item scale, each item to be scored on a 4- or 5-point rating system. It’s hard to imagine anyone having the patience or motivation to use this instrument.”
Registration is required in order to view Medscape article
Medscape Medical News > Psychiatry
Petition Calls for Critical Changes to Upcoming DSM-5
Group Says It Has ‘Serious Reservations’ About Lowering Diagnostic Thresholds
Deborah Brauser | November 4, 2011
November 4, 2011 — Divisions of the American Psychological Association have created an online petition addressing “serious reservations” about the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). Launched October 22, the petition has already garnered more than 3000 signatures from mental health professionals, students, and organizations.
Psychology Today
DSM-5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
Why Psychiatrists Should Sign the Petition to Reform DSM 5 the fight for the future of psychiatry
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 4, 2011
Psychiatrists may be more reluctant than are other mental health clinicians to sign a petition questioning the safety and value of DSM 5. After all, it is the American Psychiatric Association that is sponsoring DSM 5 and there is a natural tendency to want to trust the wisdom of one’s own Association. We also tend to feel the greatest loyalty to our profession when it seems to be under sharp attack from without.
All this is completely understandable to me. I have not felt the least bit comfortable assuming the role fate assigned me as critic of DSM 5 and of the APA. It was a case of responsibility calling and my feeling compelled to answer. If DSM 5 were not proposing some really dangerous changes, I would have stayed comfortably on the sidelines. But I think DSM 5 is too risky to ignore and that all psychiatrists should feel the same call that I did to restrain it before it is too late.
also on Psychiatric Times (Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
Why Psychiatrists Should Sign the Petition to Reform DSM 5
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 4, 2011
More from Allen J Frances, MD
DSM5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
by Allen Frances, M.D.
Why Doesn’t DSM 5 Defend Itself?
Perhaps because no defense is possible
Allen J. Frances, MD | November 3, 2011
Nature News
Mental-health guide accused of overreach
Dispute grows over revisions to diagnostic handbook.
Heidi Ledford | Published online November, 2 2011
Nature 479, 14 (2011) | doi:10.1038/479014a
Corrected online: 3 November 2011
Psychologist David Elkins had modest ambitions for his petition. He and his colleagues were worried that proposed changes to an influential handbook of mental disorders could classify normal behaviours as psychological conditions, potentially leading to inappropriate treatments. So they laid out their concerns in an open letter, co-sponsored by five divisions of the American Psychological Association in Washington DC. “I thought, ‘Well, maybe we’ll get a couple or maybe 30 signatures’,” says Elkins, an emeritus professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.
But the letter, posted online on 22 October (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/), touched a nerve. Within 10 days more than 2,800 people had signed it, many identifying themselves as mental-health professionals…
Psychology Today Do the Right Thing
Thomas Plante, Ph.D., ABPP, is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University
All the Fuss with DSM-5: The Ethics of the Psychiatric Bible Is DSM5 sacred scripture?
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D | November 1, 2011
There has been a great deal of controversy already about DSM5 and it isn’t scheduled to be published until May 2013! So, what’s up with that?
You may have heard of some of the controversy surrounding the new edition of the DSM, the “psychiatric bible,” published periodically by the American Psychiatric Association. It is the “go to” document that defines all mental health disorders and is used for diagnosis, treatment approaches, and perhaps most especially, for insurance coverage and reimbursement for professional psychiatric services. If you are a mental health professional or a patient of a mental health professional, this is an important document…
A sixth commentary from Allen J Frances
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
Psychiatric Times
DSM-5 Will Not Be Credible Without An Independent Scientific Review
Allen J Frances, MD | November 2, 2011
After all this controversy and opposition, there is one thing (and one thing only) that will save the credibility of DSM-5 and guarantee its safety – a credible process of external scientific review. APA is conducting its own internal scientific review, but it strikes out badly on all 4 requirements that must be met before a review deserves to be taken seriously as a trustworthy stamp of approval…
A fifth commentary from Allen J Frances
Psychology Today
Blogs
DSM5 in Distress
The DSM’s impact on mental health practice and research.
Dr Frances was Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine
DSM 5 Against Everyone Else Its Research Types Just Don’t Understand The Clinical World
Allen J Frances, MD | DSM5 in Distress | November 1, 2011
also at
Psychiatric Times
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
DSM-5 Against Everyone Else: Research Types Just Don’t Understand The Clinical World
Allen J Frances, MD | November 1, 2011
Media coverage October 2011
Psychology Today
Blogs
Side Effects
From quirky to serious, trends in psychology and psychiatry.
by Christopher Lane, Ph.D.
Christopher Lane, PhD | October 31, 2011
Last weekend, without any fanfare or publicity, the Society for Humanistic Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association, posted an open letter to the DSM-5 task force listing in precise, scholarly detail its many concerns about the edition’s working assumptions, procedures, and recommendations. Three other APA Divisions supported the move, which also was endorsed by the Association for Women in Psychology, the Society for Descriptive Psychology, and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
In the space of just a week, the open letter has caught fire…
A fourth commentary from Allen J Frances
Dr Frances was Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine
Psychology Today
What Would A Useful DSM 5 Look Like? And An Update On The Petition Drive
Allen J Frances, MD | DSM5 in Distress | October 31, 2011
The petition to reform DSM 5 continues to gain momentum. After just one week, more than 2000 people have expressed their disapproval of the DSM 5 proposals and their desire to see dramatic changes. You can join them at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/.
The Constructivist Psychology Network | October 30, 2011
The Constructivist Psychology Network has signed a petition supporting an open letter by psychologists to the DSM-5 task force. The open letter objects to many of the proposed revisions being considered by the for inclusion in its forthcoming DSM-5.
Psychology Today
Rethinking Depression
How to shed mental health labels and create personal meaning
Eric Maisel, Ph.D. | October 28, 2011
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
UKCP signs an online petition about DSM-5 | October 26, 2011
UKCP has signed an online petition which expresses serious reservations about the proposed content of the future DSM-5. In the latest issue of The Psychotherapist (issue 49, autumn 2011), Tom Warnecke explains the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)…
PDF The Psychotherapist (issue 49, autumn 2011) , Page 24, Mass psychosis or the brave new world of DSM-5: Tom Warnecke
A second blog from Karen Franklin
Karen Franklin Ph.D. | October 27, 2011
DSM-5 petition takes off like wildfire
Karen Franklin, Ph.D. is a forensic psychologist and adjunct professor at Alliant University in Northern California.
A second commentary from Allen J Frances
Psychiatric Times
DSM-5 Blog
Petition Against DSM-5 Gets Off To Racing Start: A Game Changer?
By Allen J Frances, MD | October 26, 2011
Dr Frances was Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine
(Registration for Psychiatric Times site required)
also at Psychology Today | October 27, 2011
The Petition Against DSM 5 Gets Off To Fast Start
Could It Be A Game Changer
Psychologists circulate petition against DSM-5 revisions
CT Daily | October 24, 2011
Heather Rudow
Britsh Psychological Society (BPS)
Psychologists petition against DSM-5 | October 25, 2011
Psychology Today
DSM-5 in Distress
Dr Allen Frances
Psychologists Petition Against DSM-5: Users Revolt Should Capture APA Attention
By Allen J Frances, MD | October 24, 2011
Dr Frances was Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force and is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine
also (with registered access) same text at Psychiatric Times
Forensic Psychologist
Karen Franklin, Ph.D. | October 23, 2011
Psychology coalition urges rethinking of DSM-5 expansions
Karen Franklin, Ph.D. is a forensic psychologist and adjunct professor at Alliant University in Northern California.
Dr Franklin also blogs at Psychology Today Witness, A blog about forensic psychology
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