By Rick HowlettA public comment period is underway on the latest revisions proposed for the so-called bible of pyschiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association,The fifth edition of the directory is tentatively scheduled for publication in 2013, but University of Louisville Department of Psychiatry Chairman Dr. Allan Tasman says it could be delayed."I think it's more important to get it right than to rush - that's what people have been saying about health care reform - and I think that's a target deadline but that's not necessarily the final deadline if there's serious, controversy," he said.Tasman, a former APA president, says the group wants to make sure it reaches what he calls "a reasonable consensus" on some of the more controversial revisions.One of them comes in response to a sharp increase in the number children treated for bi-polar disorder. It would create a new diagnosis for some cases.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.