PMID: 11341254May 9, 2001Paper

The myth of DSM's invention of new categories of disorder: Houts's diagnostic discontinuity thesis disconfirmed

Behaviour Research and Therapy
J C Wakefield

Abstract

Houts (2001) argues that increases in DSM diagnostic categories are due to the invention of new disorders that are discontinuous with old conceptions of disorder and would not have been previously diagnosed. He maintains that DSM category increases are not comparable in nature to ICD category increases, which are mainly refinements of recognized disorders. I survey categories of disorder introduced after DSM-II and assess whether they are discontinuous with old concepts and categories of disorder. Candidate categories are identified from: Houts and Follette (1998), Mentalism, mechanisms, and medical analogues: Reply to Wakefield. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; Kutchins and Kirk (1997) Making us crazy: DSM: The psychiatric bible and the creation of mental disorders. New York: Free Press; and my own list. The result is that virtually none of the candidate categories are invented, discontinuous categories. In almost every case, the newly labeled conditions were considered disorders at the time of DSM-II and would have been diagnosed under DSM-II categories. I also reexamine DSM-IV sleep disorder categories, which Houts claims are discontinuous with past diagnostic conceptions. The result is that all DSM-IV sleep di...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 1, 2011·Annual Review of Clinical Psychology·Allen J Frances, Thomas Widiger
Dec 17, 2015·Annual Review of Clinical Psychology·Stephanie N Mullins-SweattHilary L DeShong
Jul 26, 2003·Behaviour Research and Therapy·Jerome C Wakefield
Aug 7, 2021·Journal of Psychiatric Research·Christophe GauldJean-Arthur Micoulaud-Franchi

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