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DSM and ADHD
Now, what about this ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM), which has provided us with our standard list of the symptoms of ‘ADHD’?Here’s a little more about it. These observations come from an article called “The Great Waste”.
“In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association published its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). It listed 112 mental disorders, up from seven in 1880.
In 1968, the manual was revised and called the DSM-II. It listed 163 mental disorders, including a whole new category of “Behavior Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence.” These new ailments – each of which could be considered a “handicap” – appeared shortly after psychiatry procured federal funding for treating handicapped children.
Commentary in the DSM-II revealed that the listed “disorders” had not been established by scientific evidence but by a committee which voted on whether they existed. Later versions of the DSM used this same “scientific” criterion – “electing” new disorders.
When the DSM-IV was published in 1994, the number of mental disorders listed jumped to 374. While this manual provides an extensive list of mental disorders, it admits that no definition specifies precise boundaries for the concept of a “mental disorder”.“
And there’s more. In the same article, psychiatrist Al Parides offers this opinion...
Next, DSM - Yet More Disorders
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