lovingpet
Posts: 4270
Joined: 6/19/2005 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: afkarr My understanding is that it is currently a proposed changed, not a done deal. What the NCFS was calling for is: The American Psychiatric Association has formed working committees to revise by 2011 its Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM), the definitive resource on the Diagnostic Criteria for all mental disorders. Statements currently within the DSM Paraphilias criteria are contradicted by scientific evidence, therefore NCSF must conclude that the interpretation of the Paraphilias criteria has been politically – not scientifically – based. This politically motivated interpretation subjects BDSM practitioners, fetishists and cross-dressers to bias, discrimination and social sanctions without any scientific basis. We call on the American Psychiatric Association to remove or drastically restructure the Paraphilias section in the DSM. However, I already thought that the DSM-IV did not consider paraphilia to be a disorder unles it "cuased clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other significant areas of life." So are they prosing that the entire catagory be removed in all circumstances? The bolded portion is the issue. As it stands, placement of paraphilias in the dsm at all automatically subject practictioners to negative sanctions from society. It is not the practice of the paraphilias that is at issue, but it appears that way to people who do not take the time to think and evaluate for themselves. You have to ask why this "significant impairment" is occurring. Basically, if I understand what was written, the dsm will not really be changing a darn thing that actually needed changing. Their token response is supposed to be an appeasement. What a waste of a good opportunity to show that psychiatry isn't actually about enforcing social and cultural norms, but about doing what's best for the individuals seeking therapy! Sadly, however, I am not surprised. Some practitioners have managed to grow beyond such foolishness, but the profession as a whole is still quite backwards. lovingpet
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If you put your head into more, you'd have to put your back into less. ~Me 10 Fluffy pts.
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