New Guidelines for Mental Health Therapy

For the first time in more than 10 years, the American Psychiatric Association is proposing changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which fundamentally outlines what constitutes a mental disorder, and will guide treatment for patients.

The eagerly awaited revisions — to be published, if adopted, in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, due in 2013 — would be the first in a decade.

As noted in a recent report in the New York Times, significant changes would include adding “a childhood disorder called temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria, a recommendation that grew out of recent findings that many wildly aggressive, irritable children who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder do not have it.”

Controversial additions include “risk syndromes”, meant to identify the potential for developing a disorder, “hypersexuality”, and “binge eating disorder.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/health/10psych.html?em.
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