EP6: Dr. Allen Frances former Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Duke Confronts the DSM

In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Allen Frances.

Dr. Frances is an American psychiatrist best known for chairing the DSM-IV taskforce, and later roundly criticizing the DSM-5 and American psychiatry for their roles in manufacturing mental illnesses and the epidemic of over-diagnosis. 

He has been the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University where he is currently serving as Professor Emeritus. He has written a number of books including, Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Diagnosis, The DSM-5 and Big Pharma; Twilight of American Sanity: A Psychiatrist Analyzes the Age of Trump; and Essentials of Psychiatric Diagnosis.

Dr. Frances is an outspoken critic of the industrial-medical complex and the marginalization and mistreatment of disenfranchised consumers of medical care. 

In this episode, Dr. Frances and I discuss the shortcomings of the DSM; the over-diagnoses problems in psychiatry; resilience in the age of COVID-19, and the emergence and cautionary tales of psychedelic medicine.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.