Psychiatric disorders often manifest themselves in individual behavior and therefore one has to compare the expected behavior to the behavior being displayed to determine if there are any discrepancies that may warrant medical attentions. Before the development of DSM-III that recognized conduct disorder as a psychiatric disorder individuals displaying high levels of hyperactivity and poor behavior were considered to be rude and anti-social (Eriksen & Kress, 2005).
In fact, the effects of the environment and nature of parenting were some of the factors attributed to development of behavior problem and it was seldom considered a medical condition. The inclusion of conduct problems as disorders raised eyebrows as the society had learned to accept and consider poor societal conduct as a consequence of individual personality rather than mental disorder. Over the years, definition of disorders have been expanded as seen in increase in number of disorder and increase in number of pages of DSM documents.
Review of Empirical Studies Credibility of DSM-IV diagnosis has come under fire from different circles. One of the major question raised centers around a possible conflict of interest in the members of the panel that was central in formulation of DSM-IV as they are alleged to have had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. According to research findings, over 56% of the panel that developed DSM-IV had financial associations with major pharmaceutical companies.
Such claims against a body that developed a framework for diagnosis of medical disorders presents a serious threat on the integrity and objectivity of their findings. The finding further claim that the relationship between the people charged with the development of diagnostic criteria for mental disorders and the for-profit pharmaceutical industry is particularly strong in areas where drugs are first line interventions in management of mental disorders.
The article states that pharmaceutical companies contribute immensely to research, journals and conventions of which DSM formulating members are included. The research further claims that in 2004 APA had over 54 symposiums that were funded by pharmaceutical companies. Moreover, the amount of revenue gained by APA as a result of advertisement of pharmaceutical products and services increased by a whooping 24% in just one year. Some state that APA failed to acknowledge social constructivism and therefore their findings bear close resemblance of medicalisation of all forms of adverse human experiences.
The increased relationship between psychiatric diagnosis and marketing of pharmaceutical products is blamed on high levels of globalization, but ethical considerations should be placed above economic principles of globalization that the human person has control over. Reliability It is generally accepted within medical circles that diseases and conditions whose etiology and pathogenesis is now well understood presents a major challenge in nosology. Moreover, mental disorders have been a major headache that the medical fraternity has for a number of years tried to understand and develop proper management approaches.
The causes of mental disorders are not fully understood and management of conditions is an area of study that is yet to be fully understood. It is therefore clear that classifications of medical conditions is a task that is almost impossible under medical principles. However, APA has been piling categories of mental diseases with ease that defies the principle of nosology. This bring about a question on their objectivity and levels with which they conform to medical practice in formulating DSM diagnosis.
Thus the article may have some considerable degree of truth value and cannot be discounted on medical grounds. Furthermore, the data it presents is credible and so are the sources cited in the article. If the article were to be analyzed on the viability of its information then credible would be the only answer. Moreover, if there is one thing that the American public has learned from events that led to the 2008 financial crisis is that what they see is not what is really happening.