Comments on The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:06:59 GMT

brandice posted a comment (10:31):

Also to note: a lot of the doctors prescribing medication unnecessarily for ADHD are MEDICAL DOCTORS. All of MEDICAL doctors are inappropriately prescribing psychiatric medications they know nothing about as well, so the statistics are skewed to include doctors with no psychiatric expertise.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:04:40 GMT

brandice posted a comment (9:36):

Interesting note... how would you like to explain schizophrenia to me then? PLEASE tell me you're not implying that psychotic disorders do not exist, because I'd like to watch you explain the behavior of floridly psychotic patients without using psychiatry or the DSM-IV.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:02:58 GMT

brandice posted a comment (8:55):

The DSM-IV is a diagnostic manual, and has nearly nothing to do with medication. It's for diagnosing and psychiatrists wouldn't be predisposed to recommending an illness be listed just because of a tie to a drug company. That doesn't make sense.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:59 GMT

brandice posted a comment (7:59):

Again, NOT TRUE! Not all psychiatric illnesses are treated with medication. Personality disorders in particular, for example. This is such a slanted presentation...

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:59:30 GMT

brandice posted a comment (7:16):

There is measurably research done on mental illness. Behavior is not comparible to blood levels and cholesterol. To imply that we measure human behavior the same way we would measure urine output or blood sugar is somewhat ludicrous.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:57:39 GMT

brandice posted a comment (6:25):

Not knowing the reason does not mean we shouldn't be TREATING the person.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:56:34 GMT

brandice posted a comment (5:42):

I'm interested to know if this person going into the offices was actually experiencing a set of real symptoms or if they just made up a bunch of things. I'm also guessing that each interview was not identical and that this prepped person did not say exactly the same thing to every doctor. Also, different doctors treat patients in different ways, regardless. Medical doctors do as well, with different treatments, different preferred meds, etc.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:53:29 GMT

brandice posted a comment (4:05):

That's not true for all mental illness... dementia and schizophrenia can often be seen when scanning the brain.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:51:59 GMT

brandice posted a comment (3:22):

Mental illness is categorized and labeled so that there is a standardized way of using evidence-based practices to TREAT the mental illness.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:50:42 GMT

brandice posted a comment (2:44):

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a legitimate diagnoses. I have seen people suffering from extreme anxiety that causes sleep disturbance, muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, difficulty controlling their feeling of worry.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:47:40 GMT

brandice posted a comment (2:26):

I'd like to know what page that "adolescent rebellion disorder" is on. I'm looking at my DSM and don't see it.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:45:19 GMT

brandice posted a comment (2:11):

Actually no, if you're using the book correctly, every person on the planet would not be diagnosable... we all exhibit traits of different disorders, but to be actually diagnosed with the disorder, there are a lot of criteria.

The DSM: Inventing Mental Illness

brandice — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:43:13 GMT

brandice posted a comment (1:26):

Actually, there ARE statistics in the DSM-IV TR. I own one and use it frequently.