This week saw significant changes announced to the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) , the comprehensive guide produced by the American Psychiatric Association. The headline-grabber involved the elimination of a separate Asperger’s syndrome and its envelopment into a broader autism spectrum diagnosis. While this was the noisiest change generated, other note-worthy shifts announced include:
- expansion of post-traumatic stress definition
- inclusion of binge-eating disorder and hoarding
- addition of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder for children
- elimination of gender identity disorder, to be replaced by gender dysphoria
- dropping the bereavement exclusion from major depressive disorder, or more simply, permitting grief to be categorized with depression.
Controversy surrounds many of these changes, and for those that expand the current guidelines for diagnosis, there is apprehension surrounding the potential for overmedicating of what some would consider “normal” life chapters (i.e. grief as part of the bereavement process; temper tantrums as part of a child’s development).
And while overmedication is certainly a hazard, a new study published in The Lancet this week reveals that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen has been largely underutilized in post-breast cancer treatment. The study finds that prolonged (ten-year) use of tamoxifen further reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence, as opposed to the current five-year tamoxifen protocol.
For royal bump watchers, good news from Buckingham Palace came this week in the form of an official announcement of the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy. The happy news came with the more sobering footnote of Kate’s severe morning sickness for which she had been hospitalized, shining light on a rare pregnancy side effect that is generally benign but can produce serious health risks.
And finally, as we close out National Influenza Vaccination Week, we urge you to get the flu shot if you have not done so already. The CDC warned just days ago that this year’s flu season may be a particularly nasty one, having started earlier than usual. If you missed this week’s Flu Clinic, you can still get your flu shot through Health Services (Monday through Thursday from 5:00-7:00 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 8:30-10:30 a.m.).
