Archive for April, 2014

The DSM-5 and its Role in Social Work Assessment and Research

Thursday, April 17th, 2014

An editorial by NCRJ Advisor Dr. Susan Robbins. Dr, Robbins reviews the history of the DSM as psychiatry evolved from being psychoanalytically based towards a biomedical model. Robbins says “Each DSM revision attempted to add a patina of scientific discovery, despite the failure to empirically denonstrate major advances in either reliability or validity.” She also points out that “The very fact that diagnoses can be voted in or out, based on little more than the opinions of the persons charged with revising or creating those diagnoses, or as a result of political activism, speaks directly to the ideological and constructivist nature of the diagnostic enterprise.” She expresses concern about social work programs that require a DSM course with a lack of critical thinking about the DSM. Social workers must do more than simply assign a DSM diagnoses. She also aruges that “the continued lack of reliability and validity in DSM diagnoses combined with a narrow biologic etiology also raises etical and practical issues related to its use in research.”

Read the full editorial, posted here with Dr. Robbins’ permission.

 

Parole boards want remorse, but what if you’re innocent?

Thursday, April 17th, 2014

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Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

The case of Robert Hill, convicted of murder in 1988 on the eyewitness accounts of some high crackheads, brings the Catch-22 of parole to the fore. Thinking it would get him paroled, Hill expressed remorse for a crime he says he did not commit. It’s a perennial problem for attorneys appealing false convictions.

This American Life — The Struggles of Young Pedophiles

Monday, April 14th, 2014

NPR’s “This American Life” airs an intelligent and compassionate story about a young pedophile who has never offended and is helping other young pedophiles not to offend.

This story was suggested to Luke Malone by NCRJ Board Member Debbie Nathan.