URGENT: April 20 Deadline for Comments on ME/CFS as Mental Diagnosis in US

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IACFS/ME Urges Community Response to Risk that CFS May Become Classified as

Psychiatric Diagnosis

March 25, 2010

On March 25, Fred Friedberg, PhD, president of the International Association

of CFS/ME, stated: “We are concerned about the possibility of CFS/ME being

classified as a psychiatric disorder†in the upcoming revision of the

American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for

Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

Referring to the APA’s newly posted draft

revisions for “somatoform disordersâ€*, Dr. Friedberg has posted two items on

the IACFS/ME website at www.iacfsme.org:

• A community call to action. He

urges all informed advocates (working professionals in particular -

researchers, clinicians, educators) to “submit your comments on this

disturbing possibility to the DSM-5 Task Force†(www.dsm5.org - log in to

comment, click on somatoform disorders and then complex somatic symptom

disorder; comment link at bottom of page). Deadline for comment submission

is April 20.

• An open letter to the DSM-5 Task Force on behalf of the

500-plus biomedical and behavioral scientists who make up the IACFS/ME,

expressing “deep concern about the possible reclassification of CFS as a

somatoform disorder in DSM-5.â€â€¨â€¨To track all US, UK, and international

organizations' submissions and other news regarding the DSM-5 draft

proposals, see the DSM-5 and ICD-11 Watch site, maintained by Suzy

Chapman.

____
* Roughly defined, somatoform disorders involve symptoms

that

result largely from mental factors, not physical disease or injury.

http://www.prohealth.com/ME-CFS/library/showArticle.cfm?libid=15247 & B1=EM041410B