Monday, December 24, 2012

Concerns over removal of Asperger's from psychiatric manual in wake of Newtown massacre | Reduction

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Concerns over removal of Asperger's from psychiatric manual in wake of Newtown massacre

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Excerpt:

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry, published by the American Psychiatric Association, has come under fire recently because of its controversial decision to drop Asperger’s syndrome from its newest edition (DSM-V), which will be published in May 2013.   Instead, Asperger’s will be lumped into a general umbrella term of “autism spectrum disorder. ” This means people with Asperger’s, a mild, but high-functioning type of autism, may lose out on the services and treatments they need to function within society. People who knew family of shooter, Adam Lanza, who murdered 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. , Friday, have said he suffered from Asperger’s.

Keywords:

Asperger autism Ablow autism spectrum disorder Asperger s syndrome Dr. Keith Ablow Autism Society children Asperger s patients social interaction American Psychiatric Association general umbrella term previous FoxNews.com article News Medical A-Team Dr. Manny Alvarez mood dysregulation disorder frequent temper tantrums Hook Elementary School autism diagnosis DSM-IV task force DSM-V Dr. Allen Frances eyes third-party reimbursement senior managing health psychiatric symptoms psychiatric guidelines psychiatric disorders psychiatric problems psychiatric researchers APA new DSM high-functioning type Statistical Manual Adam Lanza newest edition controversial decision diagnose children horrible act APA s decision forensic psychiatrist new disorders new DSM-V core issues distinguished psychiatrists people great extent Mayo Clinic above-average intelligence previous studies professor emeritus

People:

Asperger

Overall Sentiment: -0.112335

Relevance: 0.841507

Dr. Keith Ablow

Overall Sentiment: -0.175192

Relevance: 0.505204

SentimentQuote
-0.2751“It’s important to note – even if he did have Asperger’s, which has not yet been confirmed – this condition would not cause him to commit a horrible act of violence alone,” said Dr. Keith Ablow, ...
0.20092Ablow said the DSM is basically a “bible” of conditions psychiatrists use to diagnose their patients and, to a great extent, determine what treatments would benefit them.  The DSM also has extremely important implications for what kinds of psychiatric problems insurers will cover, and even which ones schools and employers will consider disabilities. The APA said in a statement earlier this month that the decision to remove Asperger’s from the DSM-V, is to “help more accurately and consistently diagnose children with autism.”
-0.153809“This contradicts previous studies that have found 45 percent or more of the patients now considered autistic would no longer be diagnosed as such,” Ablow wrote ...
-0.0490501Ablow continued to say that psychiatric researchers “apparently differ by more than 400 percent in their estimates of how many patients will no longer be considered autistic,”  and so for the millions of Asperger’s patients who have already been diagnosed, may be taken away from them. “Medical specialties—psychiatry included—should not be in the habit of shifting their diagnoses every time a new diagnostic manual is published by its trade guild,” ...
-0.0313059Ablow continued to say that psychiatric researchers “apparently differ by more than 400 percent in their estimates of how many patients will no longer be considered autistic,”  and so for the millions of Asperger’s patients who have already been diagnosed, may be taken away from them. “Medical specialties—psychiatry included—should not be in the habit of shifting their diagnoses every time a new diagnostic manual is published by its trade guild,” Ablow told FoxNews.com. “Rather than the pace of discovery, it could be argued that what is shifting is the way organized psychiatry eyes third-party reimbursement or keys its diagnoses to match up with available medications.”
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 5
  • Aggregate Sentiment: -0.308345
  • Mean: -0.061669
  • Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

Adam Lanza

Overall Sentiment: -0.274106

Relevance: 0.226029

Dr. Manny Alvarez

Overall Sentiment: 0.0849887

Relevance: 0.20377

SentimentQuote
-0.146213Alvarez noted that the removal of Asperger’s from the DSM-V could diminish early intervention for these people, which “is key to mainstream treatment.”
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 1
  • Aggregate Sentiment: -0.146213
  • Mean: -0.146213
  • Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

Dr. Allen Frances

Overall Sentiment: -0.0746756

Relevance: 0.181308

SentimentQuote
-0.11654Frances accused the APA of having “lost its competence and credibility,” ...
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 1
  • Aggregate Sentiment: -0.11654
  • Mean: -0.11654
  • Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

Key:

  • Aggregate Sentiment is meant to be an indicator of an individual's overall sentiment.
  • The Mean is meant to be an indicator of an individual's average comment sentiment.
  • The Standard Deviation, when there are enough quotes, will indicate an individual's consistency of sentiment (i.e. a Standard Deviation of 0 would mean they were very consistent in their sentiment and 1 would mean they were very inconsistent).

Note that quote stats are likely to be meaningless beyond the aggregate score due to the tiny sample size. However, they are always provided just in case you find something useful there.

Additional Info:

HealthCondition: autism

Overall Sentiment: -0.0137368

Relevance: 0.559404

Disambiguation: DiseaseOrMedicalCondition | Disease | OrganizationSectorReferences:
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