Architect of DSM-5 rejects claims it will lead to labelling of more people as mentally ill

The man responsible for the long awaited fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has rebuffed criticism that the updated manual medicalises everyday life traumas by classifying them as psychiatric conditions and that it would increase the prevalence of certain disorders as a result.

David Kupfer, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the DSM-5 task force, said, “The suggestions [have been] that we were medicalising grief, we were increasing the incidence of depression, and that was all for the good of American companies that use medications as their way of making money.”

He added …