A Discussion of the New Open Letter From The Task Force on Psychiatric Diagnostic Alternatives
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. As several of my earlier blog posts have indicated, many professionals, mental health service users, involuntary patients, and the general public have little, to no respect, for the American Psychiatric Association’s most recent version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Just before the DSM-5 was published, early drafts were made available, and in 2011 the British Psychological Society…
An Update On The Most Recent Published Discussions
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. From time to time I have written about the growing lack of respect for the current manner in which people seeking to obtain mental health services are treated. Particularly upsetting to many is the requirement that they be labeled as having a mental disorder. This labeling process relies on descriptions provided in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fifth edition…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. A few weeks ago I asked for some feedback on a presentation I was preparing to deliver at the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Convention in Washington DC. I here want to thank all who chimed in. After reading the many comments, mostly from Facebook and Google+ members of groups/communities that I belong to, I thought long and hard on…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Regular readers know that I have, from time to time, been dealing with a conflict regarding psychiatric diagnosis. Said briefly, there are many people who immediately lose respect for anyone who questions the validity of the mental illness/mental disorder theoretical construct. On the other hand, many people have lost respect for the psychiatric profession because of its pathologizing approach of…
Welcome to “From Insults to Respect.” Regular readers know that I have some serious objections to how mental health service providers treat those seeking their services. As things stand now, unless you can afford to completely pay for such services without any insurance coverage, to access services you are very likely to be required to be labelled as having a mental disorder. Now, many mental…
Last year at the American Psychological Association Convention, I presented a paper on a proposal for an alternative to the current psychiatric diagnosis system, which can be read HERE. It provoked supportive comments, suggestions for making some improvements, and an invitation to write up my approach for an article in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. Now I have been invited to present an update to…
This blog seeks to empower its readers, many of whom are directly involved in the mental health arena or will become so in the future. Others are, or will become, involved indirectly because of someone they care about. Thus, it makes sense to spend some time learning how to effectively engage with mental health service providers. One way to achieve this is to be aware…
On August 8, 2015, I spoke at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention that was held in Toronto, Canada. My speech was part of a two hour symposium titled: “Beyond the DSM–Current Trends in Devising New Diagnostic Alternatives.” The DSM’s letters stand for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is currently used by most mental health professionals to classify people seeking mental health services….
The publishers of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) currently hold a monopoly for classifying the concerns that lead people to seek mental health services. Recently on this blog, in a series of articles, I have been pointing out numerous faults of the DSM. To check out some examples of these, see my posts titled Name Calling by Psychiatrists: Is it Time…
