DSM Archives

Supporting Spiritual Crisis in Veterans

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Emma Bragdon 3 Comments

Monday, March 17, 2025 9am to 5pm ET (New York City Time) FREE–Attend live or virtually Info/Registration: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/veteran_wellbeing_resilience Veterans, active service men and women, and first responders are often faced with moral distress when they experience something which conflicts with their morals or ethics. For example, someone in the infantry is ordered to kill a

Posted in Mental Health, Spiritual Emergency DSM, Harvard, human flourishing, moral distress, moral injury, moral problem, suicide, veterans

Francis Lu, Psychiatrist: Adding Spirit to Psychiatry

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Emma Bragdon

Francis Lu, Psychiatrist: On Recognizing Spiritual Issues in Psychiatry An essay Francis Lu wrote with two scolleagues to the APA’s editorial board for the DSM-IV was instrumental in creating the first category in the DSM, called Spiritual or Religious Problem. This category is not a name for a pathology–instead it simply names issues that

Posted in Mental Health, Spiritual Emergence APA, cultural psychiatry, DSM, Emma Bragdon, Francis Lu, religious problem, Spiritual problem

Psychiatry Accepting of Spiritual Phenomena?

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Emma Bragdon 1 Comment

Psychiatry: Accepting of Spiritual Phenomena? “Western civilization is unique in history in its failure to recognize each human being as a subtle energy system in constant relationship to a vast sea of energies in the surrounding cosmos”. –Dr. Edward E. Mann Psychiatry’s theories around diagnosing psychosis have changed radically since 2013. It’s time

Posted in Spiritual Emergence cultural formulation interview, DSM, hearing voices, psychiatry, psychology, psychosis, psychotherapy, schizophrenia, visions

Valid Challenges to the DSM

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Emma Bragdon

Valid Challenges to the DSM The following recent report and manuals encourages us to reflect more deeply on problems within the mental healthcare system and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)—They profile its failures and suggest cogent, effective alternatives that are now available. Readers: Please use the comment box below to write

Posted in Integrative Mental Health, Mental Health abuse of power, DSM, ICD-10, improving mental health outcomes, indicative trauma impact, lucy johstone, mary boyle, power-threat-meaning

Beyond the Mental Health Paradigm: The power threat meaning framework

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Emma Bragdon

Not only is it time to abandon psychiatric diagnosis, it is time to move beyond the medicalised perspective of ‘mental health’. A new framework for understanding how we all cope with distress – the power threat meaning framework – can lead the way to a more honest and effective paradigm, writes clinical psychologist Lucy Johnstone.

Posted in Diagnosis, Integrative Mental Health alternative to psychiatric diagnosis, diagnosis, Diagnositic and Statistical Manual, DSM, Lucy Johnstone, mental health, mental health paradigm, mental illness, power-threat-meaning

A Brochure Proposal by Paula Caplan, PhD

Posted on April 8, 2021 by Emma Bragdon

The proposed brochure: Let’s tell people who are suffering emotionally the truth about psychiatric diagnosis, the evidence for that truth, and what to ask when considering seeking help in the mental health system. Paula Caplan, PhD is raising money to create a brochure about this to be used in a public service, educational campaign,

Posted in Integrative Mental Health brochure, DSM, mentally ill, oppressed groupss, psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatric survivors

Drop the Disorder! A Book Review

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Emma Bragdon

Book Review: Drop the Disorder! Challenging the Culture of Psychiatric Diagnosis. Editor: Jo Watson. Foreword: Paula J. Caplan. Published by: PCCS Books, Ltd, UK in September, 2019. The message of this book: Labeling people who are suffering with overwhelming emotional issues typically does not help them. Instead, a psychiatric diagnosis usually increases suffering and stigma.

Posted in Integrative Mental Health, Uncategorized Drop the Disorder, DSM, Integrative Mental Heatlh, Jo Watson, mental health, Mental Health Diagnosis, Paula J Caplan, psych meds, psychiatric medications, psychiatry