Are Shopaholics Mentally Ill?
The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is expected in 2012. Up for debate: whether to add compulsive shopping, Internet addiction, apathy, and even prolonged bitterness to the list of mental illnesses.
Just shows how silly the shrink community has become.
From a business standpoint it makes sense for the psychoanalysis industry to turn every common negative emotion or common self-destructive compulsion into a clinical condition. That way, when Obama and Congress force everyone to purchase comprehensive health coverage with no lifetime caps on benefits and with full mental health parity, the gravy train will officially pull into Psychology Station.
In the view of many psychoanalysts, everyone could benefit from counseling and health insurance should cover the cost. Have a stressful day at work? Swing by your counselor’s office on the way home to bend a sympathetic ear. Your kid doesn’t like to do his homework? There’s a medical condition to explain that as well.
The range of conditions that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders includes is an example of why mental health parity is a costly benefit to tack on to health coverage.
I agree with Ken.
Interesting comment by Devon. It’s in their self-interest to find mental illness everywhere.