Reuters, a not altogether reliable news agency, reports that

the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is being revised now for publication in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost everyone as having some kind of disorder.  Citing examples of new additions like “mild anxiety depression,” “psychosis risk syndrome,” and “temper dysregulation disorder,” they said many people previously seen as perfectly healthy could be told they are ill.

The implications of this, as the National Center for Policy Analysis points out, could be that

technically, with the classification of so many new disorders, we will all have disorders.
This may lead to the belief that many more of us “need” drugs to treat our “conditions,” and many of these drugs will have unpleasant or dangerous side effects.
The “psychosis risk syndrome” diagnosis is particularly worrying, since it could falsely label young people who may only have a small risk of developing an illness.

Homosexuality used to be classified as a mental disorder until politics overwhelmed science.

And let’s not forget that, always lurking in the background, is the argument that if you don’t like Big Brother’s policies, why, you must be crazy!

—Mike Gray