British Doctors Whine From A Corner About DSM

A new study is out and purports to overturn the diagnostics from DSM-5. While a great deal of
legitimate criticism has been leveled at DSM-5, this is not included in that distinguished body of
scientific work.
To whit: the common criticism against DSM is that it is dealing with an incredibly dynamic
subject, the human mind. This means that different disorders will affect different people in
different ways, as the incredible dynamism means that no two people are alike. This means that
all definitions will be murky to an extent, as they embrace spectrums rather than points.
This idiotic study, published in Psychiatry Research, declares that this fact makes the DSM
unscientific.
Nonsense. Science is perpetually cognizant of its own shortcomings and is continually changing
its classifications and approaches to match new discoveries. While this has led to a great deal of
pseudo-science, the adoption of spectrums is not in error. Very few elements exist in absolutes,
the very existence of a meter indicates that thinking in terms of spectrums is vital to scientific
clarity. This does not conflict with our experience of the universe as a series of binary choices, as
the universe consists of the intersection of these lines. By definition, such intersections show up
as points, leading to a functionally binary universe.
Another complaint from the study is that the DSM has a definition of normal. No elaboration is
necessary here.
The rest of the study highlights offshoots from the original point, how the DSM attempts to
categorize disorders, and that the study authors don’t like that. Too bad, it is the necessary
function of a diagnostic system to create categories, by arguing against such classification you
indicate that you do not believe in the very foundation of science, the ability to know what you
are talking about. Granted, many modern ‘scientists’ don’t believe in knowing what they are
talking about either, but that is an indictment of them and their teachers, not of science.
The study also complains that the DSM puts a great deal of focus on disorders, while not
focusing enough on the trauma that might cause them. Except that DSM isn’t supposed to be a
doctor, that is the psychiatrists’ job. The DSM is only meant to provide a list of current disorders,
nothing more.

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