The Fourth edition of the encyclopedic Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, a reference document used by
psychiatric professionals in the
United States and worldwide. It is published by the
American Psychiatric Association. The DSM is extremely influential, and is essential to front line diagnostic workers in the psychiatric profession.
An interesting side effect of the huge effort to produce this document is that many "unusual" activities became billable
mental disorders, despite the fact that the persons involved may be happy and well adjusted. Some truly vague definitions were included in the DSM.
Here are some of the more interesting nodes in the DSM (see if you have a mental disorder, according to the APA):
- 305.9 Caffeine Intoxication
- 292.89 Cannabis Intoxication
- 292.89 Caffeine-Induced Sleep Disorder
- 299.80 Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
- 303 Alcohol Intoxication
- 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Sleep Disorder
- 301.83 Borderline Personality Disorder
- 302.71 Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder
- 347 Narcolepsy
- V62.89 Religious or Spiritual Problem
- 300.9 Unspecified Mental Disorder (nonpsychotic)
The most trenchant critics of the DSM have complained that the DSM has defined
being alive as a mental disorder, and cheapened psychiatry by reducing it to a taxonometric activity of describing the patient not as a human being but as a series of DSM derived billing codes.