What is madness? To answer this question, psychiatrists use the DSM, the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”. This is the classification most used by psychiatrists and psychologists around the world.

Published in May 2013, the latest version of the book, the DSM-V, is controversial. This is the opportunity for PasseportSanté to look at this manual which questions our psychological behavior. 

In 2013, the foundations of psychiatry shook. The new version of the DSM, the “diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders”, used by the majority of mental health professionals, is not unanimous. Unreliable, stigmatizing even dangerous, it is criticized for turning our everyday ailments into real mental illnesses. Mourning, childish anger or even gluttony then become pathological … But is this really fair?

These examples are reminiscent of the case of homosexuality, withdrawn from the DSM in 1973, where it was referenced as a deviance or even a mental disorder.

What is most problematic is essentially the DSM’s definition of normality. How does psychiatry look at our society? And is that really his role? To understand it, you need to know more about how the DSM works … So, are we all crazy?