DSM

This rant is sponsored by Melody Petersen's book, Our Daily Meds.

When I first learned about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), I was very impressed. I thought to myself that it was pretty impressive that a group of people got together and compiled a list of mental disorders. It seemed that only good could come of this since in order to treat a disease, you must first diagnose it. However, I am starting to believe that a book like the DSM could be the downfall of our society.

Before you say, "Reid...You're being dramatic."
I would like to say to you, "Don't worry, I am being dramatic."

First of all, I am a grandiose person. If I had a good day and somebody were to ask how my day was, I would most likely respond that it was one of the best days I have ever had. Conversely, if someone were to ask how my day was and it had not been a very good day, the moment would turn sour really fast. Religious or not, the person would probably ask to pray for me due to their concern that death was imminent for me.

For the layman, when I am up I am UP, when I am down I am DOWN.

No I do not think the DSM will actually be the downfall of our society. Jonas Brothers fanaticism is more likely to be a harbinger of Armageddon, but that is so depressing that I don't even want to attempt to write about it.

I do think that its scary that in 1952 there was only 106 mental illnesses listed in the DSM. By 1994, the list had grown to 357 mental disorders. (Petersen,99)

While I do believe that the growth in the list of illnesses is due to our advances in medical knowledge, but some of these have to be put in there just to scare people, or because people are bored, or because people want to find a disease that wins a spot in the coveted DSM. I would do it....I still might.

Not all of you are going to like this news because you want to believe that if something is in a medical book, then it is probably in there for a good reason. However, mental illnesses are not like diseases that infect the blood or other things in the body that can be detected. They are a set of character traits, or flaws to some people. Some doctors actually have boasted that they can tell if a person is depressed by only asking them two questions. They see this as a positive thing that enables the physician to prescribe their patients anti-depressants right away. What are these two questions? I wish I could figure it out.

I imagine they are: Are you depressed? and Did you know you look horribly depressed?

There is no way you can decide if someone needs a chemical aid with a mere two questions.

If you can surmise that someone is depressed based on two questions then you can probably guess that someone has other mental illnesses based on this meager criteria.

Don't believe me? A while ago a company tried to tell people that a large portion of the community suffered from a mental illness called "compulsive shopping disorder." While I do believe that a lot of us are compulsive shoppers, it isn't something that you can treat with pills. They tried though. The pill was called Celexa. It didn't get popular because of the backlash it created when it was featured on shows like Good Morning American. While it is good that this drug's future was quelled after its first television appearance, I wonder how many drugs have flown under the radar for illnesses that were created just so we could buy more pills.

Maybe it is just my machismo that doesn't let me succumb to snacking on Zoloft, but I hard time buying into that people need pills for every little personality quirk they might have. I am starting to believe Chris Rock when he said that some people are just "crazy." Plain and simply crazy.

I am sorry for those who read this and who are currently "suffering" from one of these disorders. Unless it is Restless Leg Syndrome, then I am not sorry. That is just called having too much espresso before bed time.