Thefood addictionand thecompulsive hoardingthey are considered new pathologies, according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness (DMS). Among the modifications of the well-known manual, which the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has just revised after twenty years to include the most recent scientific findings, also highlights theexclusion from the list of mental disorders of addiction to sexual intercourse(or hypersexual disorder), Internet gaming addiction, and transsexualism (or gender identity disorder). Likewise,grief over the death of a loved one is no longer consideredfor less than two months asdepressive disorder.
On the other hand, the new version of the manual includes Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) with which children who “three or more times a week exhibitfrequent bouts of irritability, outbursts, and tantrumsfor more than a year. “In this way they hope to avoid the excessive (and erroneous) diagnosis of cases of bipolar disorder in childhood.
As for the disorder known ascompulsive hoarding, the psychiatrists assure that “it will help to characterize the individuals with persistent difficulty to dispose of belongings and objects that have no value.” A problem that usually affects the emotional stability, social relationships and finances of those who suffer from it.
The manual also unifies the categories of substance abuse and substance dependence, in addition to expanding the criteria for diagnosing alearning disorder, including all the anomalies that interfere with the acquisition of language and its oral, written or intended use to express mathematical concepts.
Another major change in DSM-5, dubbed “the Bible of Psychiatry,” is that the terms? Autism? and “Asperger’s syndrome” disappear, and are encompassed under a new term:autism spectrum disorder. The goal, experts say, is to more accurately diagnose children with the disease.
