JUST over a year ago, the world鈥檚 largest mental health research organisation signalled its intent to tear up 60 years of psychiatry and start again. Thomas Insel, the head of the US National Institute of Mental 午夜福利1000集合 (NIMH), questioned the validity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, often dubbed psychiatry鈥檚 鈥渂ible鈥�, declaring that 鈥減atients deserve better鈥�.
The outlines of a new system are now taking shape, based on an understanding of the brain rather than the ambiguous and complex symptoms presently used for diagnosis (see 鈥�Psychiatry鈥檚 scientific reboot gets under way鈥�). But it will be many years, if not decades, before this turns into anything that might benefit patients. Tarnished though it is, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual remains the bible.
Make no mistake: the NIMH鈥檚 break with tradition was a historic moment in psychiatry. But its work to create a replacement is just the start. And with some psychiatrists who dislike the old system already criticising the nascent new one, we can鈥檛 even be sure it is a good start.
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Almost everyone agrees that the old system is no longer fit for purpose and that patients deserve better. Delivering something better, however, is going to be a long, slow process.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淧sychiatry鈥檚 slow cure鈥�
