My latest article in Psychiatric Times https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychiatry-does-not-need-a-softer-dsm-it-needs-a-smarter-one
Not all distress is disease
That does not minimize suffering
It protects the seriousness of psychiatric illness
Some people have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, severe depression, catatonia, and other conditions that can devastate lives without accurate diagnosis and treatment
Others are suffering from trauma, stress, grief, substance use, medical illness, social collapse, personality structure, or environmental chaos
They still deserve care
But care does not always require a lifelong diagnostic label
That is the tension DSM-6 must confront
If the next DSM becomes broader, softer, and more flexible without becoming more scientifically valid, psychiatry will not gain credibility. It will lose it.
My latest article in Psychiatric Times argues that psychiatry does not need a softer DSM.
It needs a smarter one.
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