Saving normal
by Allen Frances · first published 2013
8mentions
3recommended by
5HN commenters
2013–2019first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
Frances argues that the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders threatens to destroy what is considered normal and that grief, sorrow, stress, disappointment, and other feelings are part of life, not a psychiatric disease.
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…collides with natural diversity? Like that? Are you aware that nature thrives on a wide spectrum of behaviors, that such a spectrum represents the genesis of all future improvements in the species? "Saving Normal" (Allen Frances): http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Normal-Out-Control-Medicalizati... NIMH director Insel: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2013/transforming-dia... Quote: "While DSM has been described…
on “ADHD Pill Faces High Hurdle in Europe as Stigma Persists” ↗Thanks. Here is his article that he is talking about: http://davidhealy.org/psychiatry-gone-astray/ Along these lines (overprescription, overdiagnosis, disease mongering) "Saving Normal" by Frances Allen may be a good read as well.
on “Extreme side-effects of antidepressants” ↗People who downvoted this statement should google "disease mongering": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease_mongering They may also want to check out Allen Frances: "Saving Normal". Mental health problems are real. Overprescription due to capitalist reasons is real too. They both do harm.
on “Depression is increasing among Americans reaching middle age” ↗This is an important comment. People might also be interested in the book Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life by Allen Frances (who was the chair of the DSM-4 committee)
on “An Office Designed for Workers with Autism” ↗…this is the reason people are so overdiagnosed these days. All the criteria are vague, even psychiatrists overdiagnose all the time. Even the guy who chaired the DSM-IV thinks so: http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Normal-Out-Control-Medicalizati... Modern psychiatry is 50% science 50% tarot cards if you ask me.
on “Bitcoin 'creator' backs out of Satoshi coin move 'proof'” ↗…dispersions" isn't quite what you had in mind (s/dispersions/aspersions). And finally, Allen Frances, editor of DSM-IV, has recently written a book that makes the same points I do (http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Normal-Out-Control-Medicalizati...). If NIMH director Insel, or Allen Frances, tried to post to r/askscience, they would get the same treatment I got -- scientific censorship. More here: http://arachnoid.com/building_science
on “Why Reddit moderators are “censoring” Glenn Greenwald’s latest” ↗…the underlying structure of very few mental ailments. What psychiatrists call a disease is usually just a label for a group of symptoms. As the eminent psychiatrist Allen Frances writes in his book, “Saving Normal,” a word like schizophrenia is a useful construct, not a disease: “It is a description of a particular set of psychiatric problems, not an explanation of their cause.” - David brooks.
on “Philosophy of Psychiatry (2015)” ↗…varies quite a bit from country to country, and the US does it somewhat horribly. Don't take my word for it, the man who chaired the committee for the DSM-V thinks so (nd he wrote a book about it called "Saving Normal". Regardless of what you think about psychiatry from a theoretical perspective (e.g. what studies show), there is a MASSIVE gap between what practicing psychiatrists do and what happens in studies. As…
on “How Silicon Valley is dealing with mental illness” ↗