It's scheduled to come out in May 2013, and this doc (Allen Frances, MD) asks the question: is the APA going to release it because it is needed and helpful and founded for psychiatric treatment? Or because they want the income from the release of a new book?? He has a good grasp on where the system fails and what needs to happen next. He'd like to see changes based in science, and is keenly aware of the degree to which psych diagnosis is inexact and the pathophysiology of these diseases uncertain.

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763886?src=mp&spon=38

Here are his concerns that the current DSM-IV does not deal with:
20x autism rates (is everybody really autistic??)
20x childhood bipolar rates
3x ADHD rates
2x adult bipolar rates
"Misuse of the label "paraphilia NOS" to sanction the questionably constitutional involuntary commitment of rapists as a veiled form of preventive detention"

And here are the things he is worried will be stuffed prematurely into the DSM-V:
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
Minor neurocognitive disorder
Removing the bereavement exclusion for major depressive disorder (sadness not allowed!)
Lowered ADHD threshold (by raising the allowed age of onset to 12) (how does this work??)
Lowered threshold and poor reliability for generalized anxiety disorder
Combining substance abuse w substance dependence under "addictive disorders" (low reliability and unnecessary stigma)
A category for "behavioral addictions" that will promote "Internet addiction" as a NOS diagnosis. (Next: "addictions" to sex, shopping, work, golf, boating)
Pedophilia criteria wording that tries to sneak in hebephilia (preference for early pubescent teens) and invites forensic abuse
Making binge-eating a mental disorder
An unusable personality section that the APA Assembly voted unanimously to oppose

Pesticides, etc.
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Includes new age ranges.
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MY QUESTIONS
what are food sources of citicholine? can we get it from eating brains?
there is choline in eggs and liver. is there citicholine?? how much??
how easily does choline convert to citicholine?
can we support the conversion?
can we by pass this supp using diet???

CHOLINE DEFICIENCY is common (not citicholine, mind you!)
suspect if: fatty liver, hemorrhagic kidney necrosis, infertility, growth impairment, bone abnormalities, hypertension, cancer, atherosclerosis, glaucoma, neuro dz: Alzheimer's,. bipolar. LABS: incr ALT, incr HCYS

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Behavioral Problems and Adolescent Medicine
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Recent research has shown that children who are young relative to the other kids in their school classes are more likely to be diagnosed and treated for ADHD. This is presumably because they are younger, less well socialized and more childish than their classmates. That childishness can be problematic so they are singled out by teachers and sent down that path toward mind bending pharmaceuticals.

Last weekend's seminar supported my impression that ADHD may be a low dopamine state, either due to decreased levels of the neurotransmitter or decreased receptor activity or numbers. It also supported my impression that low dopamine can follow from childhood trauma. We all know how vicious kids can be, so just being the youngest may constitute trauma. We also know that low status primates within a group have lower serotonin levels.

I personally know two adult humans who are beneficially treated for their ADHD with ritalin. Ritalin's mechanism of action is unknown, but it is thought to influence several neurotransmitters, most especially dopamine. Some texts say it is a dopamine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

My question is this: How does being a younger, smaller and lower status individual in a group of mammals affect your dopamine function? And what IS the relationship of dopamine function to ADHD?