Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

Apparently the National Institute of Mental Health is refusing to use DSM classifications for mental illness and (according to some sources) won't be letting people who research through NIMH grants use DSM terminology in their publications. They say they want to start a research campaign specifically to learn about how to classify mental illness.

we need to classify mental health issues

therefore we must reject any previous attempt to classify mental health issues

Originally posted by Oliver North
we need to classify mental health issues

therefore we must reject any previous attempt to classify mental health issues

Their criticism seems to be the DSM style of categorization is irreparably flawed because it is "symptom based". I have to say I don't know what that means.

That actually sounds awesome, but the scope of that project is probably even beyond current technology. It is the ultimate way these disorders should be understood and, frankly, the way the field has been moving for years anyways, especially in terms of psychopharmacology.

It just seems strange to say they wont fund anything else, as if there is nothing beneficial or redeemable in the DSM, or that even having any framework to begin describing the cluster of symptoms involved in the various types of schizophrenia wouldn't be a benefit. If, in the end, they are broken into "dopamine based conditions" or something similar, cool, but the distance from here to there is such that maybe we are losing something by abandoning what we already know?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Their criticism seems to be the DSM style of categorization is irreparably flawed because it is "symptom based". I have to say I don't know what that means.

A diagnosis is given based on an inference from a number of often non-empirical symptoms or related behaviours whereas any "real disease" can be traced to specific viruses or bacteria or injuries, etc.

It is a valid criticism, however, the situation is not nearly as bleak as the author suggests, as people are identifying these biological markers all the time. A more apt complaint is that most people don't have access to a battery of EEG or fMRI tests when screening their child for ADHD . Nor is a normal visit to a doctor's office generally much different than the professional making a diagnosis based on an inference from symptoms.

get rid of em both

NIMH ftw.