DSM-5: A Manual of Mental Disorders

This is a book that explains each of the developmental disorders children and adults suffer, and the criteria of each.

Mental health is one of the most complex and still misunderstood fields of medicine. Illnesses that affect our psyche are relatively invisible, as most of the time they don’t have any physical symptoms and there’s still a general lack of knowledge surrounding them. What constitutes a mental disorder? Which is the right way to diagnose it? And what’s the correct treatment for it? Psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals have been trying to answer these and many other questions for decades. The DSM-5 is an attempt to answer them.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the main guide to diagnosis for mental health professionals. The American Psychiatric Association released it for the first time in 1952, and it’s been updated and revised several times ever since. The current version, DSM-5, was published in 2013. It contains detailed information regarding the criteria required for mental affections diagnosis and reviews of each disorder.

13 years passed until the manual was finally updated from its former version, DSM-4. Many things have changed over the course of the years, including our understanding of mental health and disorders. This manual is divided into three sections: one section explaining how it works and how it must be applied, the second section for diagnosis' criteria and codes, and the third section for emerging measures and models (concepts that need to be revised and investigated further).

Changes regarding autism

One of the most significant and controversial changes in the last manual are encapsulated in the definition of autism. Autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, and Asperger’s syndrome were fused into a new term called autism spectrum disorder. The DSM-5 work group did this with the purpose of reducing diagnosis rates by 10%, making them more precise. In this sense, an individual is considered autistic only when the characteristic social communication deficits are accompanied by excessively repetitive behaviors, restricted interests, and insistence on sameness.

Although deficits in social communication are often diagnosed as a symptom of autism, other probable diagnoses must also be taken into consideration, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, social anxiety disorder, and intellectual developmental disorder.

Even though nowadays many psychologists and psychiatrists are worried and remain skeptic about DSM-5's effectiveness in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, it’s a very detailed and complete guide to start understanding the world of mental health. It’s a step closer in the road to understand our autistic children and learn how to help them so they can be both happy and safe.

As parents and caretakers, we must stay as updated as we can with new definitions and changes on criteria. Children will always need someone to explain their condition to them, and we need to communicate with them as clearly as we can. Mental health providers will help on this journey, but we should always seize every valuable resource or piece of information.

This book has suffered many changes over time. Most of them due to the improvement of technologies and diagnosis.

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Tokenism: What Is It?

Tokenism is often seen as a common way to include minorities in social environments, but it is wrongly developed and causes people to feel left out and insulted.

“He who sells you the token instead of the coin always retains the power to revoke its worth, and to command you to get off the bus before you have reached your destination.” This is the way Martin Luther King Jr. described tokenism in his 1963 book called Why We Can’t Wait. It virtually signals everything that’s wrong with these early attempts to create a more inclusive society. Even if the intentions are good, a poor execution will never be enough until the promise that tokenism makes is truly paid.

But what tokenism exactly is? It’s basically the practice of including a few symbolic members from underrepresented groups and grant them places in the workforce, the media or any other kind of activity, with the purpose of avoiding accusations of social discrimination. And what’s the promise? That this mandatory inclusion will someday lead to a more a democratic and inclusive society.

Because minorities have always struggled to gain visibility, this practice emerged as a way to give them a voice, although artificial.  Even though sometimes it can seem like a good place to start, tokenism carries a risk of becoming an ineffective solution. How many times have you seen actors that seem to just be in a movie's cast because they’re part of a minority group? This usually leads to stereotypical representations that, more often than not, help to perpetuate wrong ideas about these groups. Malcolm X put it like this when talking about racial discrimination: “What gains? All you have gotten is tokenism — one or two Negroes in a job, or at a lunch counter, so the rest of you will be quiet.”

What about children?

Children with autism and other psychological conditions also suffer from its patronizing consequences. We shouldn’t involve children with special needs in certain activities just because we need to fill a quota, but because we value their insight and we want to learn about who they are as individuals. We should always give them a real voice.

In a paper published by Unicef, tokenism was used to describe those instances in which children are apparently given a voice, but in fact have little or no choice about the subject or the style of communicating it, and little or no opportunity to formulate their own opinions. How can we create true solutions to their problems and needs if we’re not ready to listen to what they have to say? We don’t necessarily know what’s best for them and there’s no point in trying to advocate for a cause if you do not include, truly, those who you are fighting for.

How to avoid bad tokenism

Stop focusing so much on which minority group people belong to, and start treating everyone as individuals. Value their opinions individually and try to understand that everyone’s circumstances are not the same. Don’t underestimate children’s abilities and virtues, nor ignore their interests. If you want to include them in a panel or a project, make sure to let them know why they’re there and give them an opportunity to voice their opinions.

Positive discrimination can have many benefits, but what’s truly important at the end of the day is that individuals are valued for who they are, not for the condition they suffer, nor for their race or gender. We want our children to feel loved, represented and we want them not to be afraid to speak up whenever they desire! At Autism Soccer we believe in the potential of each of our kids and want to see them happy and confident. Contact us to learn more about our projects and activities. Join us today!

If you notice someone is being treated with hipocrisy or falsely, stop them in the act.

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What is a Developmental Disability?

This is a condition that will accompany your children throughout their lives. Teach them to live happily with it.

Physical development is measured by established standards in the medical field. These standards are mostly similar and often work as guides for the children’s growth, both physical and psychological. But genetic and diseases usually work against these developments, which turn into the developmental disability. More often than not, this is a condition that affects mental abilities, such as learning disorders in several respects. It’s fundamental for parents and caretakers to know the true implications of this sort of conditions in order to be prepared to work with children with special needs.

What comprises a developmental disability?

Most people think that developmental disabilities are reduced to a certain set of symptoms but in fact, this term is used to group a set of different conditions within a category. That’s why you must know that the variety of development of this condition depends on each child because it might be caused by genetic or other factors.

The symptomatology will vary from one condition to another, which causes a problem with creating a perfect definition of what comprises a developmental disability diagnosis, but doctors often define it as “chronic conditions that impair the physical or mental development”.

Like mentioned above, there are measures of growth that are standard, like: physical and psychological, which work as indicators to study the particular ailment in each case. After these tests, doctors grade the overall conditions, depending on the age of each child to determine the severity of the condition in each individual patient.   

Some of the conditions listed under this term are:

• General genetic disorders.
• Down Syndrome.
• Edwards Syndrome.
• Spina bifida.
• Autism spectrum.
• Fragile X.
• Tourette Syndrome.
• Fetal alcoholism.

Parents and caretakers should have a close connection with their children with this kind of conditions to give them a better and healthy life. That’s why it's important to work with professionals that will help your children with their condition. One of the greatest choices you will ever have is to introduce them to sports. That’s when Autism Soccer comes into play. AS is skilled and prepared to work with a variety of developmental disabilities. Make sure to check their social media to learn what they have for you! What are you waiting for? Contact them now!

The more people know about this condition, the more they can understand it.

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