by Dr Aletta | Sep 27, 2015 | Good Therapy, Mental Health
October 1 looms large for us mental health and medical professionals in the US. From that date on we’re required to switch from using the DSM V or ICD-9 codes for illness to the International Codes for Disease tenth edition (ICD-10 for short). This is already...
by Dr Aletta | Dec 4, 2012 | Mental Health
My first introduction to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), was standing in the kitchen of my parent’s home and witnessing my father in full rant. My Dad was a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst of the old...
by Dr Aletta | Jul 14, 2010 | Body/Mind, Chronic Illness
I read somewhere that properly diagnosing chronic illness can take from two to three years. Many of you wait even longer. In the meantime, while the doctors scratch their heads, we’re expected to be happy we’re alive. And that’s if they don’t...
by Dr Aletta | Oct 22, 2009 | Chronic Illness
…the [Center for Disease Control] orchestrated a jocular referendum by mail among a handful of academics to come up with a name for it. The group settled on “chronic fatigue syndrome” — the use of “syndrome” rather than “disease” suggested a psychiatric rather...