According to the latest revision of the U.S. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), 5th edition, some common behaviors will likely be classified as mental illnesses, the Daily Telegraph reported Feb. 10. The manual also lists Internet addiction and gambling as mental illnesses.
While these DSM guidelines will not be applied in countries such as the United Kingdom, experts say the concern is that the new DSM rules will influence how doctors and patients think about related topics. Dr. Simon Vesely, an expert at the School of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said, “We have to be cautious until the outreach of disease expands further. 1840, the United States identified only 1 mental illness; in 1917, the American Psychiatric Association identified 59 mental illnesses; in 1959, it increased to 128; in 1980, it increased to 227. Today, the number has increased to 347. Do we really need all these complicated classification names for mental illnesses? Perhaps not at all. The real danger is that shyness will become ‘social phobia’, that children who love to read will be classified as ‘Asperger’s autism’, and so on.”
Dr. Peter Kenderman, director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, said that describing shyness or loss of loved ones as It is not “humane” to describe shyness or loss of a loved one as a “mental illness”. The British Psychological Society is opposed to the new DSM guidelines, as are many American psychiatrists. 11,000 psychologists have signed a petition against the new DSM, fearing that pharmaceutical companies will profit from the increased number of illnesses if the new guidelines are implemented. Countless people will experience misdiagnosis or inappropriate treatment.