Treat the Whole

By now, most people have probably read about the proposed change to the psychiatric DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) whereby the diagnostic labels for Asperger’s syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-nos) will be eliminated, and enfolded into the broad diagnostic label of autism spectrum disorder. Here is an article about it in the New York Times: A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis.

But the pros and cons of that proposal is not what my writing is about today. I am more interested in the MEDICAL-oriented updates to be included in the new DSM-V, which is due to be published in 2012, replacing the current DSM-IV.

ICD-10 vs DSM-V

At what point should a diagnosis be medical—in the ICD—as opposed to mental—in the DSM?

Psychiatrists are working on the next version of the hefty psychiatric "bible" of diagnoses (DSM-V) to replace the current DSM-IV. In newspapers around the country, an article is circulating about it. Here is a link to one copy of the article, in the New York Times: Psychiatrists Revise the Book of Human Troubles

The debates are passionate, because many “mental” disorders are “medical,” “biological,” “physical.”