Word: apa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Maybe. One method might be to write diagnostic criteria for depression that are sharper than the loose catalog of symptoms used today. The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), lists such vague symptoms as "fatigue" and "indecisiveness" as possible markers of depression. And while the definition must be broad enough to encompass a disease that manifests in many different ways in many different patients, even mental-health specialists hotly debate what constitutes true depression. A commentary in the Lancet accompanying the new paper asks, "If the diagnosis of depression cannot...
...large contingent of APA specialists is currently rewriting the diagnostic manual, but the revision won't be out until at least 2012. In the meantime, most people will probably continue to use their general physician for front-line psychiatric care. That may be preferable to not seeking care at all, but for high-risk patients - such as those who have a family history of depression, recent stressful life events, chronic illness or substance abuse - it would be wiser to seek specialized attention...
...American Psychiatric Association (APA), which owns the DSM, is in the process of rewriting the book, which was first published in 1952. The DSM-V, as the fifth edition will be called, is set to be published in 2012. But the process of researching it began way back in 1999 - five years after the publication of the last major revision, the DSM-IV - meaning the new book's production will take 13 years overall. (Read about how we get labeled...
...long? Last week, a research organization called the American Psychopathological Association (which goes by the acronym APPA, to distinguish it from the APA) brought many of the key players in the development of the DSM-V to a conference in New York City to discuss some of the reasons the writing of the book is so complicated...
...obvious reason is that so many people have a stake in what the world defines as crazy and what it calls normal. Famously, homosexuality was listed as a DSM condition until a 1974 vote among APA members removed it. Other groups of mental-health professionals and patients want certain disorders to be added (and covered by insurance): sexual compulsivity, for instance, is not in the DSM, even though "sexual aversion disorder" (302.79) - the persistent and distressing avoidance of genital contact not explained by another disorder like depression - is included. (Read an interview with an author who has bipolar disorder...