Diagnosis, DSM and Physician Affiliations
When you go to a psychiatrist or psychologist (or even your primary care physician), the first thing they pull out (whether in your sight or not) is a copy of the DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual), the book that describes every mental disorder with all its symptoms and offers a means of making a diagnosis. It is the Bible of the medical profession and of every insurance company in the world, probably.
The question that needs to be asked, by people who'd like to really understand this book: How is this book constructed and who is involved in deciding what goes into it? Good question. It's a committee, the members can be found in the front of the book, that gets together and, based on their clinical experience and judgment, they make additions or deletions and decides what is to go into the book. There is also another medical "coding" book and that's the ICD-9 which is used for procedure codes and billing purposes. If you'd like information on this, go here. For the DSM, go to the publisher's website (American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.) and also go to the National Institute of Mental Health for more information.
Are the physicians and psychologists who are on the committee to review and revise the book which describes mental disorders taking money from pharmaceutical firms? Perhaps that's not the right way to phrase that question. Do any of the committee members receive any funding from pharmaceutical firms? Probably most, if not all, do because the nature of research and funding is such that schools, hospitals and foundations cannot fund all work in this area. Funds are needed from pharmaceutical firms and the hope is that this does not cause bias in any form.
Might it cause some bias? Perhaps, but it's my opinion that professionals are not going to agree to revise a diagnosis or add a new criteria just because they have some funding from a firm that makes medications.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: DSM, psychology, psychiatry, pharmaceutical funding
The question that needs to be asked, by people who'd like to really understand this book: How is this book constructed and who is involved in deciding what goes into it? Good question. It's a committee, the members can be found in the front of the book, that gets together and, based on their clinical experience and judgment, they make additions or deletions and decides what is to go into the book. There is also another medical "coding" book and that's the ICD-9 which is used for procedure codes and billing purposes. If you'd like information on this, go here. For the DSM, go to the publisher's website (American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.) and also go to the National Institute of Mental Health for more information.
Are the physicians and psychologists who are on the committee to review and revise the book which describes mental disorders taking money from pharmaceutical firms? Perhaps that's not the right way to phrase that question. Do any of the committee members receive any funding from pharmaceutical firms? Probably most, if not all, do because the nature of research and funding is such that schools, hospitals and foundations cannot fund all work in this area. Funds are needed from pharmaceutical firms and the hope is that this does not cause bias in any form.
Might it cause some bias? Perhaps, but it's my opinion that professionals are not going to agree to revise a diagnosis or add a new criteria just because they have some funding from a firm that makes medications.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: DSM, psychology, psychiatry, pharmaceutical funding
