The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) is the next edition of the manual that is frequently used by government entities, insurance companies and health￼care providers to diagnose and provide insurance billing guidelines. One would think that such a manual would be based on the results of medical tests that were done in accordance with rigid scientific standards. However, that is sadly not the case. The decisions on how to describe and name various ailments are based not on the results of medical studies but on the majority vote of psychiatrists. These psychiatrists are expressing their opinions and from these opinions come a manual that is supposed to set the standard for treatment of mental illness.

Dr. Allen Francis, a renowned psychiatrist who assisted in the preparation of DSM-4. Dr. Francis is very critical of DSM-5. In an article published in Psychiatric Times, Dr. Frances points out many of the flaws not only in the way mental disorders are defined but also how poorly written is the text. He believes that saying a person’s grief over the loss of a loved one is now a mental disorder is particularly egregious but only one of many flaws in the DSM-5.

To be fair, one of the problems with writing a book on mental disorders that is not based on definable and verifiable medical tests are monumental. Many of the mental disorders ascribed to some general statement are actually caused by medical disorders that can be clinically and reliably diagnosed and treated using medical data that has been around for decades. It is well-known that the symptoms of endocrine problems are very similar to the symptoms of many of the mental disorders named in the DSM-5. It is well-known that dehydration, allergies and other life conditions, like grief over the loss of a loved one or trauma from the battlefield, can disrupt the body in such a manner that many unpleasant symptoms are created. However, the DSM-5 largely ignores this fact and simply attempts to attribute all of these symptoms to some impossible to define “mental condition.”

It is well-known that the subjective standards of the DSM-5 are often interpreted in different ways by different practitioners. You can take the same person to different psychiatrists and because most of them only rely on what they see and feel, their diagnosis and treatment can and do vary widely.

Yes, there are conditions which cannot be treated by conventional medical science. However, these are actually quite few. Almost all of these conditions can be traced to actual organic medical problems. Once these are diagnosed and treated the symptoms vanish and, most of the time, the person is not required to take any harmful drug that will just cause additional side effects.

Patients must demand effective diagnosis and treatment before they blindly accept a diagnosis that involves taking these dangerous drugs for the remainder of their lives.