Secrecy of manual's changes criticized

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders should be made openly instead of hidden from the public, a critic of the process says.

Psychiatrists working on the update to the manual must sign a confidentiality agreement, the Los Angeles Times reported. Critics say, however, the American Psychiatric Association should allow outside observers to review the scientific debate behind new, revised diagnoses.

Among those speaking against the process the manual's third edition editor, Dr. Robert Spitzer, considered the most influential psychiatrist of his generation, the Times said.

"If you don't know what goes on at someone's meetings, they're suspect of having a conflict of interest," Spitzer, a Columbia University professor, told the Times.

The profession already is buffeted by revelations that academics are given huge fees by drug companies. The financial links between the drug industry and the psychiatric community prompted a congressional investigation.

Association officials said psychiatrists working on the manual revision are limited to $10,000 annually in fees from drug companies and that "transparency" is their guide.

"The field of psychiatry has gone from an ideology to a scientific pursuit," Darrel Regier, who heads the organization's research arm, adding that critics fail to note progress in the field, told the Times.

David Kupfer, who is leading the manual's revision said to the newspaper that he hopes to reduce the number of diagnostic categories when the manual's fifth edition appears in in 2012.