DSM
From Encyclopedia Dramatica
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. It is also heavy enough to bludgeon a patient with if he goes mental, or is just really annoying.
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Uses
Often referenced to illustrate some knowledge of psychological disorders in flame wars or consulted to create personality memes. If someone claims to be a psychology major, it is nearly guaranteed that they have encountered this book and will reference it in threads as the ultimate source of and authority on all things mental.
Mental Illness to Order
It can even be used as a checklist for people into disease whoring. There are substantiated reports of people in their late teens getting together and going through and diagnosing themselves and others in an ad-hoc manner in order to obtain prescription drugs, like marijuana. Despite the nearly legalese style in which all people specializing in psychological disorders must speak to convey the fuckitude of the stuff they deal with, which the DSM is written in, somehow the social rejects of the world find ways to excuse their failures in all things social with a few awkwardly worded passages quoted from the DSM.
Controversy
While widely accepted among psychologists and psychiatrists, the manual has proved controversial in its listing of certain characteristics as mental disorders. The most notorious example is the listing in the DSM-II of homosexuality as a mental disorder; a classification that was removed by vote of the APA in 1973 (see also homosexuality and psychology). It has yet to include Otherkin.
See Also
External link
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DSM is part of a series on Diseases and Disorders. |
