10 Types of Mental Illness or Disorders That No Longer Exist

Copyright 2016 by Gary L. Pullman

For individuals outside the mental health profession, it may be surprising that types of mental illness and disorders are nominated, approved or rejected, and may later be redefined or eliminated altogether from the profession's “Bible,” the Diagnostic andStatistical Manual (DSM).

In 1951, DSM-I was established to standardize the classification systems regarding mental illness and the terms used concerning it. After review and acceptance by 10 percent of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) membership, the 145-page DSM-I listed 106 psychological conditions, classified into “neurotic, psychotic, and character disorders” and “six somatization disorders.”

The method of deciding which attitudes, behaviors, and values should be viewed as a mental illness or disorder has been sharply criticized by many. Some resent changes that seem to be due to political pressure or social activism. Others are concerned about losses of funding for treatment. Still others, including some psychiatrists, criticize the revisions because they are skeptical that mental illness exists at all.

Be that as it may, here is a list of 10 types of mental illness or disorders that no longer exist. We can make up our own minds as to whether they ever existed to begin with.

10 Combat Exhaustion Disorder

DSM-I replaced the combat exhaustion disorder with a milder malady, gross stress reaction, a decision which caused controversy. Critics charged that the change detracted from “identifying the negative reactions that many individuals had after experiencing combat.” The Army, in particular, was concerned about the elimination of combat exhaustion disorder because of the experiences soldiers had had in World War II, which had only recently ended. Subsequent editions of the DSM continued to add and delete types of mental illness and disorders based on majority votes by APA members.

9 Homosexuality

Originally, DSM-II, published in 1968, listed “sexual deviations” (homosexuality, fetishism, pedophilia, transvestism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, sadism, and masochism). As early as 1970, however, a social movement was underway, protesting the designation of homosexuality as a mental illness, and some psychiatrists were uncomfortable with the listing as well. A committee recommended homosexuality be dropped from DSM-II, and, in 1974, the APA removed it from the DSM-II's seventh printing. Impassioned laypersons had taught the professionals the error of their ways.

8 Manic Depression

Published in 1980, DSM-III did away with manic depression, replacing it with bipolar disorder. Although the latter term may be more specific and “more of a clinical term,” the motive for doing away with manic depression in favor of bipolar disorder also appears to have involved sociological objectives. “Manic” and “mania” are “stigmatized,” it's claimed, and “'depression' is used flippantly by the general public.” “Manic depressive” is also an “emotionally loaded” term, some contend, and “excludes the physical and/or cognitive symptoms . . . present” in the disorder.

7 Hysteria

The notion of hysteria originated in ancient Egypt. Specifically a female complaint, it was believed to be caused by “spontaneous uterus movement.” The ancient Greeks had a different idea as to the cause of the malady. Hysteria, they thought, was a type of “madness” only women suffered. Its was caused by the poisoning of their uteri “by venomous humors,” which were caused, in turn, by “a lack of orgasms” and consequent “uterine melancholy.” Bizarre notions about the uterus as a cause of wild mood shifts persisted throughout the Middle Ages, into modern times. In fact, until DSM-III was published, hysteria was listed alongside the APA's other assortments of mental illness and disorders. Like the uterus of old, the symptoms of what was once known as hysteria have moved. They are now listed as a “manifestation of dissociative disorders.”

6 Gender Identity Disorder

Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner

Gender identity disorder is a victim of the 2013 publication of DSM-5 (the APA has decided to use Arabic instead of Roman numerals to distinguish editions). a temporary mental state rather than an all-encompassing disorder.” Second, it prevents “a right-winger” from claiming “all trans people are mentally ill.” In other words, the change isn't motivated entirely by science; it's also inspired by social and political purposes.

5 Paraphilias

DSM-5 states paraphilias may or may not be mental disorders. (A paraphilia is an atypical, extreme sexual desire, the gratification of which depends on fantasy and may be directed at inanimate objects.) To be diagnosed as such, a paraphilia must meet two criteria. It must be of a particular “qualitative nature,” and it must cause “negative consequences,” such as harm or risk to others. Otherwise, it's just harmless fun. The same is true, now, of the other paraphilias, except pedophilia, all of which were once considered mental disorders. The condition no longer determines whether a person has a mental disorder. What determines the diagnosis is the person's feelings about his or her behavior or the reaction of the other party involved in the situation.

4 Asperger's Syndrome

DSM-5 also retired Asperger's syndrome as a distinct disorder. Instead, it's now subsumed under the “umbrella term” pervasive development disorders (aka autism spectrum disorders).

Symptoms that used to indicate Asperger's syndrome now signify the high-end of the autism “spectrum.” Such change is more than merely semantic, because it can “affect the diagnosis and treatment of millions of children and adults worldwide, as well as medical insurance and special education services.” There are also political consequences regarding the revision, one of which is that British hacker Gary McKinnon's Asperger's syndrome diagnosis “contributed to a government decision not to extradite him from Britain to the US on cybercrime charges.” This need not be a consideration in future criminal cases.

3 Mental Retardation

Mentalretardation as a developmental disorder disappeared with the publication of DSM-5 so the manual's terminology matches that of the World Health Organization, “other professional disciplines and organizations,” and U. S. laws. In place of mental retardation, the term intellectual disability is being used. Since mental retardation no longer exists, there's no need to bother with I. Q. test scores as one of the “diagnostic criteria” for identifying the condition, although DSM-5 continues to mention them in its “text description of intellectual disability” and the scores should be considered, along with other factors, in assessing an individual's intelligence. For the purposes of DSM-5, people can be considered intellectually disabled if they score below 70 on an I. Q. test.

2 Hypochondriasis, Pain Disorder, and Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder

Fictional character Dot Cotton suffers from hypochondriasis

There's good news for those who once struggled with the hypochondriasis (formerly known as hypochondria), pain disorder, or undifferentiated somatoform disorder. These somatization disorders are no more. (“Somatization” refers to multiple, recurring medical symptoms without a discernible organic cause.) DSM-5 has eliminated them. As a result, “many, but not all, of the individuals diagnosed with one of these disorders could now be diagnosed with [somatic symptom disorder] (SSD).” The deletion of hypochondriasis, pain disorder, or undifferentiated somatoform disorder “removes the mind-body separation implied in DSM-IV,” which was published in 1994.

1 Mental Illness and Disorders?

Dr. Thomas Szasz

As psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz predicted in The Myth of Mental Illness, mental illness and mental disorders themselves may disappear before long. His contention is that so-called mental illness is actually behavior caused by organic disease or associated with existential problems.

It appears the U. S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) also views so-called mental illness differently than the APA. The organization “has launched an effort to transform psychiatry into what its director, Thomas Insel, calls clinical neuroscience,” an approach that “will focus on observable ways that brain circuitry affects the functional aspects of mental illness—symptoms, such as anger or anxiety or disordered thinking, that figure in our current diagnoses.” Although uncertain whether clinical neuroscience would cause “new definitions of illnesses,” the NIMH “seems poised to abandon the reigning

DSM approach” and to “transform diagnosis by 2020 . . . rather than modifying the current paradigm.” Such a revolution could lead to the disappearance of mental illness and mental disorders themselves.