A critical analysis of debates on grief and depressive disorder in the age of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Francisco Pizarro Obaid Psychologist. PhD in Sexuality, Reproduction and Perinatal Medicine. Associate Professor, Director of Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile. image/svg+xml , Rodrigo De La Fabián Albagli Psychologist. PhD in Fundamental Psychopathology. Associate Professor, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile. image/svg+xml
Received: 16 May 2019, Accepted: 27 September 2019, Published: 24 October 2019 Open Access
https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2019.2319 | PMID: 32022133
Abstract views
1622
Metrics Loading ...

Abstract


Since the incorporation of the major depressive disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980, and until its update in the DSM-IV-TR, the DSM classification system considered it necessary to include the criterion of “bereavement exclusion”, with the aim of differentiating normal sadness linked to a loss, from a mental disorder, such as the major depressive disorder. In its latest version (DSM-5), this exception was removed, giving rise to a controversy that continues to this day. The debate has set those who are in favor of maintaining this exclusion and extending it to other stressors against those who have intended to eradicate it. Our hypothesis is that these positions account for two qualitatively diverse clinical and epistemological matrices, linked to major transformations in health sciences and in psychiatry. We show that this debate involved a profound renewal of the meaning of psychiatric practice, a change in the function of diagnosis and in the way of conceiving the etiology of mental disorders, as well as a reformulation of the patient’s suffering status for the medical act.

Keywords: Mental Health, Major Depressive Disorder, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders


References


1. Ehrenberg A. La fatiga de ser uno mismo: Depresión y sociedad. Buenos Aires: Nueva visión; 1998.

2. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Third Edition (DSM-III). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1980.

3. Shorter E. Before Prozac: The troubled history of mood disorders in psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009.

4. Wakefield JC, Schmitz MF. When does depression become a disorder?: Using recurrence rates to evaluate the validity of proposed changes in major depression diagnostic thresholds. World Psychiatry. 2013;12(1):44-52. doi: 10.1002/wps.20015.

5. Wakefield JC, Horwitz AV. Psychiatry’s continuing expansion of depressive disorder. En: Wakefield JC, Demazeux S, (eds.). Sadness or Depression?: International perspectives on the Depression Epidemic and its Meaning. Dordrecht: Springer; 2016.

6. World Health Organization (WHO). Depression and other common mental disorders: Global health estimates [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/y57565pg.

7. Jirón M, Machado M, Ruiz I. Consumo de antidepresivos en Chile entre 1992 y 2004. Revista Médica de Chile. 2008;136(9):1147-1154. doi: 10.4067/S0034-98872008000900009.

8. Gualano MR, Bert F, Mannocci A, La Torre G, Zeppegno P, Siliquini R. Consumption of antidepressants in Italy: Recent trends and their significance for public health. Psychiatric Services. 2014;65(10):1226-1231. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201300510.

9. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Health at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators [Internet]. 2017 [citado 10 jul 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/yyfhyng8.

10. World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). Depression: a global crisis [Internet]. 2012 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/y2uh9ltp.

11. Hidaka BH. Depression as a disease of modernity: Explanations for increasing prevalence. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2012;140(3):205-214. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.12.036.

12. Wakefield JC, Demazeux S (eds.) Sadness or depression?: International perspectives on the depression epidemic and its meaning. Dordrecht: Springer; 2016.

13. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

14. Bandini J. The medicalization of bereavement: (ab)normal grief in the DSM-5. Death Studies. 2015;39(6):347-352. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2014.

15. Zachar P, First MB, Kendler KS. The bereavement exclusion debate in the DSM-5: A history. Clinical Psychological Science. 2017;5(5):1-17. doi: 10.1177/2167702617711284.

16. Kendler KS. Historical precedents for the DSM-III bereavement exclusion criteria for major depression. Psychological Medicine. 2018;48(16):1-10. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718000533.

17. Pies RW. The bereavement exclusion and DSM-5: An update and commentary. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience. 2014;11(7-8):19-22.

18. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1987.

19. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Forth Edition (DSM-IV). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.

20. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Forth Edition-Revised (DSM-IV-R). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.

21. Zisook S, Shear K, Kendler KS. Validity of the bereavement exclusion criterion for the diagnosis of major depressive episode. World Psychiatric Association. 2007;6(2):102-107.

22. Kendler KS, Myers J, Zisook S. Does bereavement-related major depression differ from major depression associated with other stressful life events? American Journal of Psychiatry. 2008;165(11):1449-1455. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07111757.

23. Pies RW. Major depression after recent loss is major depression - until proved otherwise. Psychiatric Times [Internet]. 1 dic 2008 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/y4npb89l.

24. Kendler KS, Myers J, Halberstadt LJ. Should the diagnosis of major depression be made independent of or dependent upon the psychosocial context? Psychological Medicine. 2010;40(5):771-780. doi: 10.1017/S0033291709990845.

25. Lamb KR, Pies RW, Zisook, S. The Bereavement exclusion for the diagnosis of major depression: to be, or not to be. Psychiatry (Edgemont). 2010;7(7):19-25.

26. Wakefield JC, Schmitz MF, First MB, Horwitz AV. Extending the bereavement exclusion for major depression to other losses: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2007;(64)4:433-440.

27. Horwitz AV, Wakefield JC. The loss of sadness: How psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2007.

28. Wakefield JC. False positives in psychiatric diagnosis: Implications for human freedom. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 2010;31(1):5-17. doi: 10.1007/s11017-010-9132-2.

29. Frances A. Essentials of psychiatric diagnosis. New York: Guilford Press; 2013.

30. Wakefield JC, Horwitz AV, Lorenzo-Luaces L. Uncomplicated depression as normal sadness: Rethinking the boundary between normal and disordered depression. En: DeRubeis RJ, Strunk DR, (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Mood Disorders. New York: Oxford University Press; 2017.

31. Sabin JE, Daniels N. Seeking legitimacy for DSM-5: The bereavement exception as an example of failed process. AMA Journal of Ethics. 2017;(19)2:192-198. doi: 10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.2.pfor2-1702.

32. Alarcón RD. DSM-5 y la psiquiatría latinoamericana. Revista de Neuro-Psiquiatría. 2013;76(2):61-62. doi: 10.20453/rnp.v76i2.1186.

33. Bertolozzi MR, De la Torre Ugarte Guanilo MC. Salud colectiva: fundamentos conceptuales. Salud Areandina. 2012;1(1):24-36. doi: 10.33132/23229659.309.

34. Casallas-Murillo AL. La Medicina Social-Salud Colectiva Latinoamericanas: Una visión integradora frente a la salud publica tradicional. Revista Ciencias de la Salud. 2017;15(3):397-408.

35. Onocko R, Massuda A, Valle I. Salud Colectiva y psicoanálisis: entrecruzando conceptos en busca de políticas públicas potentes. Salud Colectiva. 2009; 4(2):173-185. doi: 10.18294/sc.2008.340.

36. Kawa S, Giordano J. A brief historicity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Issues and implications for the future of psychiatric canon and practice. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 2012;7:2. doi: 10.1186/1747-5341-7-2.

37. Ophir O. Psychosis, psychoanalysis and psychiatry in post war USA: On the borderland of madness. New York: Routledge; 2015.

38. Wilson M. DSM-III and the transformation of American psychiatry: A history. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1993;150(3):399-410.

39. Sandín B. DSM-5: ¿Cambio de paradigma en la clasificación de los trastornos mentales? Revista de Psicopatología y Psicologia Clínica. 2013;18(3):255-286. doi: 10.5944/rppc.vol.18.num.3.2013.12925.

40. Shorter E. How everyone became depressed: The rise and fall of the nervous breakdown. New York: Oxford University Press; 2013.

41. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. First Edition (DSM-I). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1952.

42. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. Second Edition (DSM-II). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1968.

43. Grob GN. The forging of mental health policy in America: World War II to new frontier. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 1987;(42)4:410-446. doi: 10.1093/jhmas/42.4.410.

44. Mayes R, Horwitz AV. DSM-III and the revolution in the classification of mental illness. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. 2005;41(3):249-267. doi: 10.1002/jhbs.20103.

45. Kendler KS. Historical precedents for the DSM-III: Bereavement exclusion criteria for major depression. Psychological Medicine. 2018;48(16):2794-2803. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718000533.

46. Freud S. Duelo y Melancolía. En: Sigmund Freud, Obras Completas: Contribución a la historia del movimiento psicoanalítico, trabajos sobre metapsicología y otras obras (1914-1916). Vol. 14. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu; 2008.

47. Clayton P, Desmarais L, Winokur G. A study of normal bereavement. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1968;125(2):168-178.

48. Frances A. Opening pandoras box: The 19 worst suggestions for DSM-5. Psychiatric Times [Internet]. 11 feb 2010 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/yyug4r3k.

49. Paris J. The ideology behind DSM-5. En: Paris J, Phillips J, (eds.). Making the DSM-5: Concepts and controversies. New York: Springer; 2013.

50. Muñoz F, Jaramillo LE. DSM-5: ¿Cambios significativos? Revista de la Asociación Española de Neuropsiquiatría. 2015;35(125):111-121. doi: 10.4321/S0211-57352015000100008.

51. Rose NS. Molecular biopolitics, Somatic ethics and the spirit of biocapital. Social Theory & Health. 2007;5:3-29. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.sth.8700084.

52. Rose NS, Abi-Rached JM. Neuro: The new brain sciences and the management of the mind. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press; 2013.

53. Wakefield JC. The DSM-5 debate over the bereavement exclusion: Psychiatric diagnosis and the future of empirically supported treatment. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33(7):825-845. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.03.007.

54. Pies RW, Zisook S. Drs Pies and Zisook respond. En: Wakefield JC, Horwitz AV. Depressive symptoms after loss. Psychiatric Times [Internet]. 13 may 2009 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/yymxvqrq.

55. Wakefield JC, Horwitz AV. Depressive symptoms after loss. Psychiatric Times [Internet]. 13 may 2009 [citado 13 may 2019]. Disponible en: https://tinyurl.com/yymxvqrq.

56. Wakefield JC, Demazeux S. Introduction: depression, one and many. En: Wakefield JC, Demazeux S, (eds.). Sadness or depression?: International perspectives on the depression epidemic and its meaning. Dordrecht: Springer; 2016.

57. Rose NS. Politics of life itself: Biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2007.

58. Kass L. Beyond therapy: Biotechnology and the pursuit of happiness. New York: Dana Press; 2003.

59. Foucault M. El poder psiquiátrico: Curso en el Collège de France, (1973-1974). México: Fondo de Cultura Económica; 2005.



Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC