|
|
|
|
Cross-posted from Technorati with permission. At a dinner meeting a couple of weeks ago I met two psychiatrists who work at Kaiser Permanente, the large HMO system that boasts a 24% health insurance market share in California. (This has nothing to do with my story really. I just think it’s amazing that a quarter of […] In my last post, I highlighted diagnostic challenges related to borderline personality disorder (BPD): Sometimes dramatic, self-destructive behavior leads to reflexive, inaccurate use of this label, while other times eagerness to diagnose a medication-responsive illness such as bipolar disorder can lead to overlooking BPD. Naturally, this barely scratches the surface. Thousands of books have been […] Just as I was formulating a few thoughts on borderline personality disorder (BPD), I see the NY Times beat me to it. Jane E. Brody’s 6/15/09 “Personal Health” column, “An Emotional Hair Trigger, Often Misread,” provides an evocative description of this vexing disorder. Brody’s column seems informed largely by her consultant, Dr. Marsha M. Linehan, […] Since psychiatric disability is often invisible and unquantifiable, considering oneself psychiatrically disabled can take on many meanings. Certainly there are those who assess their limitations, whether imposed by thought disorder, anxiety, or mood extremes, and accurately gauge themselves disabled. It is a strength to accept reality for what it is, to live one’s […] In my last post I discussed the politics of psychiatric nosology and the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). While the machinations behind specific disorders are fascinating, it is easy to miss the forest for the trees. The basic idea of dividing mental distress and disability into diagnostic categories is […] Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made. Otto von Bismarck German Prussian politician (1815 – 1898) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published periodically by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), aims to catalog all recognized mental disorders. As the name implies, it is used both for clinical […] I met a young man recently in a setting having nothing to do with psychiatry or mental health. He politely introduced himself and tried to learn the names of the others around him. He seemed socially awkward but inoffensive, and after I left I didn’t give the encounter much thought. However, I learned that soon […] |
 |