I just read the story. It is even more outrageous when they suggest that the
grieving for the loss of a child - the worst possible lost, made even harder in
modern times when so few of us experience it (so more isolating than ever in an
already death denying culture) - is more like a treatable illness than a normal
reaction.
Two modern cultural themes emerge of course - fear of being sued ("I'd rather
call it depression...") and of course the gigantic gold mine that labeling more
and more of the colorful, unsettling and some times deeply painful emotional
states that comprise a full life has become to psychiatry and the
pharmaceutical industry.
I have become more and more comfortable in my lectures criticizing the
unscientific and shoddy construction of the DSM. And teaching the views of
Szasz as serious insights and not the rantings of a fringe dweller.
When we are happy all the time, no one will be happy anymore.
Nancy Melucci
Long Beach City Colleg
Long Beach CA
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Goff <dg...@randolphcollege.edu>
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu>
Sent: Tue, Aug 3, 2010 6:52 am
Subject: [tips] DSM and grieving
I heard this story on NPR yesterday morning and thought that it could be used
as a nice introduction to some of the controversies surrounding the new edition
of the DSM or even a class discussion about the definition of a psychological
disorders. The story discusses diagnosing “grief reactions” as a depression.
“The DSM committee removed the bereavement exclusion — a small, almost footnote
at the bottom of the section that describes the symptoms of major depression —
from the manual.”
The title of the piece – “Is Emotional Pain Necessary?”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128874986&ps=cprs
tiny http://tinyurl.com/2g7yc22
Dennis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dennis M. Goff
Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Randolph College (Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1891)
Lynchburg VA 24503
dg...@randolphcollege.edu
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