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San Francisco Psychiatric Society
Lecture Series
What to Expect from the DSM-V: Depression, Grief, Autism and More
Alan Schatzberg, M.D.
Kenneth T. Norris, Jr., Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine
Controversies are currently brewing in the psychiatric journals, as well as The New York Times and other national newspapers, over the new D.S.M.-V, due to roll off the press in December of this year. Complaints are being issued about revisions affecting diagnoses of eating disorder NOS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, psychosis, Asperger syndrome, and major depression.
The two areas of greatest dispute are Aspergers and major depression. In the former, the A.P.A. intends to narrow the definition of autism spectrum disorders to the point that many, if not all, patients with the syndrome may be denied insurance coverage. This means that thousands of patients may go without treatment and that ultimately the diagnosis may fall by the wayside.
More heated are the debates about the newly proposed elimination of the “bereavement exclusion” from the diagnosis of depression. As a consequence of this change, whatever subset of the 8 to 10 million people per year who lose a loved one in the U.S., those who also experience depression-like symptoms, will now meet criteria for major depression. As a result, critics are saying, psychiatrists and other physicians will begin to apply an illness diagnosis to normal human experience, perhaps moving quickly to institute treatment, whether psychotherapy or psychopharmacology.
Dr. Alan Schatzberg, past-president of A.P.A. and Kenneth T. Norris, Jr., Professor, Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has kindly agreed to speak to us on these topics and other aspects of the new D.S.M.-V.
We hope you will join us for what promises to be a provocative and intellectually enriching evening.
Monday, May 21, 2012
6:15 PM Dinner 7 PM Lecture
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