Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Somatic symptoms are medical complaints that arise from mental illness. In my experience, such symptoms are shrugged off by the general public as "oh, that's not a real symptom, it's just somatic." Well, let me tell you: the symptoms feel very real to the suffering individual.(Something I learned in my work at a suicide hotline and my own intensive outpatient therapy is that what you feel is a real feeling, regardless of what others say.) And sometimes (in fact, maybe a lot of the time) symptoms are due to a "real" medical problem caused by the mental illness. Read my post about the physiological effects of anxiety if you don't believe me.

Depression - an overview

Depression is a surprisingly common mental health issue, affecting 17% of Americans at some point throughout their lifetimes. Depressions almost always are a result of a stressful life event, though not all of these depressions are severe enough or long enough in duration to be considered a mood disorder. 

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome - the Basics

I think we all have some idea of what we think PTSD is, but it turns out PTSD isn't as clear-cut as I thought.

Apparently, when PTSD was first introduced into the DSM, the diagnostic criteria required a traumatic event "outside the range of usual human experience" that would cause "significant symptoms of distress in almost anyone." That fits pretty well with my own perception of PTSD. Rape, war, torture, violent experiences...these all fit into that description. PTSD is a normal response to an abnormal stressor. 

Does the DSM-5 encourage overmedication?

Oh, the irony of life - I clicked on a link to read an article by Dr. Allen Frances (chair of the DSM-IV task-force and author of Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life) - and I was forced to wait through a 15 second advertisement on a psychiatric medication. This is exactly the type of thing Dr. Frances complains about. People have "too much" access to information that they are not trained to understand. Dr. Frances urges the public to beware self-overdiagnosis. (This could also be referred to as cyberchondria.)