The New `Mental Illness`
This debate flared when the American Psychiatric Association classified grief as a mental illness in their 5th edition of the psychiatry standard, `Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)` due out next year. According to the APA, this is in attempt to allow physicians to be more flexible in deciding when to treat depression in a patient following the death of a loved one. However, according to the well-respected medical journal, The Lancet, along with many other psychologists and psychiatrists, ``grief does not require psychiatrists and that `legitimizing` the treatment of grief with antidepressants is not only dangerous simplistic, but also flawed.``
Though there is an agreement among the field that prolonged grief can result in depression, it should not be classified as depression until it is actually the case, says The Lancet, ``Grief is not an illness, it is more usefully thought of as part of being human and a normal response to the death of a loved one.`` The biggest concern of the long-term reaction to being diagnosed as having a depressive disorder is that grief is a very natural part of being a human--on the flip side though, grief is one of those emotions that can easily transition into being pathological if resistance to feeling or expressing those emotions is prolonged for a year or longer.
We would love to know your opinion on this subject so please feel free to leave comments. If you or someone you know is coping with grief, talk to your doctor and visit Helpguide.org for help understanding the grieving process.