WRITE THE WRONGS IN DSM-5 PLEASE : N.I.C.E. MUST URGENTLY ISSUE GUIDANCE IN U.K.

DSM-5 is due to be published in the U.K., by the American Psychiatric Association, in May 2013 but the proposals for the revised diagnostic manual have provoked an international storm of protest from child psychologists, prominent psychiatrists and health professionals due to the fundemental breaches of scientific and statistical design principles that have become apparent in its creation by the Task Groups.

Recent field trials have failed to reach adequate Kappa Reliability scores for a range of the new conditions. Thousands of children are therfore at risk of 'false positive' diagnoses with these more inclusive and 'catch all' categories causing potential negative long term life consequences. This could include a wide range of harmful side effects such as tremors, poor sleep,weight loss, increased anxiety, psychotic episodes and even sudden death. let alone the damage to their self-image from unnecessary labelling.

Many professionals working with children feel this manual known as the 'psychiatrists' bible' is flawed due to the clear vested interests of some of its authors as demonstrated by the research of Dr Lisa Cosgrove (Massachusetts University 2007) who showed that as many as 70% of those involved in the Task Groups had received a range of financial payments from the pharmaceutical industry often dressed up as very generous 'speakers fees' of $10,000 or the payment of doctors' conference fees for specific drugs made by that company, including free golf or other sporting activities options.

Safeguarding Children is our paramount responsibility with a shared 'Duty of Care' and our Professional Bodies' Codes of Ethics state that we must challenge questionable practice if it puts the health and welfare of our service users, such as children, at risk of harm.

NICE are best placed to assess the risks to children and adults posed by DSM-5 and issue urgent and essential guidance to professionals in the field to highlight issues and to restrict its usage in the U.K. if necessary.