The American Psychiatric Association is in the process of
revising its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM) , a handbook used by clinicians when making
diagnoses of conditions such as depression, and some believe it
may be going too far. A new report by researchers at Columbia
and New York universities argues that the newly proposed
definition of depression, which includes grief after the loss of
a loved one under the umbrella of depression, is opening the
door for false-positive diagnosis of depression and the
unnecessary treatment of people who are simply going through the
normal process of grieving. Other experts, however, argue that
clinical depression can and often does occur as a result of
grief. These proponents of the proposed changes feel that
changing the criteria for a depression diagnosis will aid these
people in getting the help that they need. The 5th edition of
the DSM, which is the first major update the manual has
undergone since 1994, is due to be published in May 2013