Overdiagnosing mental disorders


My new podcast at Cato discusses the American Psychiatric Association’s ongoing project of redefining and often loosening the criteria for diagnosing mental illness, and some of its legal implications in fields like disability law (earlier).

2 Comments

  • The problem is not the current re-working of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which is just a phenomenological and observational scientific tool.

    The real issue is the vaguely worded, poorly written, and completely over-bearing Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

    Of course, the resultant injustice is greatly worsened by the now “customary” Obama Regime horrific hyper-regulatory stance and really, really bad judgment on the part of the current Administration.

  • At our medical office we keep a tally of those who below 40, able to drive and fill out complex forms and are on full Social Security Disability. The numbers are huge. Number one disability: bipolar, number 2 fibro.