Fears over new mental health guide

A growing number of "normal" people could be classed as mentally ill under proposed changes to US guidelines which are used by health professionals around the world, experts have warned.

Some of the revisions could see individuals who were simply thought of as eccentric or difficult in the past being labelled as having psychological problems, according to British practitioners.

As an example, they cited a new diagnoses for "psychosis risk syndrome" - to assesses the chances of people developing psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia - categorised as occasional mood changes, feelings of distress, anxiety or paranoia, or fleeting episodes of hearing voices.

These symptoms may or may not escalate into full blown psychosis, but the diagnosis of potential risk could have a lasting impact on the lives and careers of people.

The updated edition of the guide is also set to include new diagnoses for "mixed anxiety depression", "temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria" and "binge eating".

In addition, the bar could be lowered on some common existing disorders, such as depression, so that more people are considered to have symptoms that warrant a diagnosis.

Professor Til Wykes, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, spoke of a trend that was "leaking into normality".

She said: "It shrinks the pool of normality to a puddle, and there are going to be fewer people who won't end up having a diagnosis of mental illness."

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