Allen Frances, M.D., is the Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University. Dr. Frances has authored two books and is best known for his role as the chair of the DSM-IV Task Force. His latest book “Saving Normal” criticizing the DSM-V came as quite a surprise. But Dr. Frances worries equally about the 300,000+ mentally ill people who are in prison for nuisance crimes because of lack of access to treatment and the 250,000 who are homeless. He believes we are in the crazy position of overtreating the worried well and undertreating those who desperately need help.
We conducted this interview with him at the ISEPP conference last year after witnessing his heated debate on stage with Robert Whitaker. Many ISEPP participants were weary of Dr. Frances because of his association with the DSM-IV. However, at the conference he took a strong stand against the DSM-V stating that diagnostic expansion is a real issue and that we are pathologizing normal human experience. The scale of normal vs. illness is weighing so heavy on the side of illness that Dr. Frances feels two-thirds of patients diagnosed are being treated unnecessarily.
What are your feelings about DSM-V and diagnostic expansion? Do you feel the manual is serving us or does it need to be throw out?
