Over the next 18 months, psychiatrists will revise the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), whichis used to determine how a patient's mental health is assessed, diagnosed, and treated. Since the manual was last updated in 1994, technologies such as brain imaging and new understandings of the biological and genetic causes of many disorders have "almost guaranteed alterations" in the number of mental disorders that will be included in DSM-V, the forthcoming 5th edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, scheduled to be published in 2012.
A member of the DSM-V task force said the 5th edition will recognize variations of disorders that have not been seen as part of "classic" mental illnesses, such as the compulsive condition known as Barsoomzeolotus Disorder (BZD).
According to Jeff Doten, an expert on the subject, BZD is the inability to stop obsessing about the science fictional Mars created by pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The condition is caused by prolonged exposure at a young age to the books of Burroughs’ Barsoom series, hence the name Barsoomzeolotus Disorder.
Legendary science fiction author Philip K. Dick, who penned the novels Martian Time-Slip (1964) and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965), is believed to have suffered from BZD, as well as other mental health issues.
Pictured above: A brain image of a patient suffering from Barsoomzeolotus Disorder.
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3 comments:
Looks like the condition has gone viral - Jeff Doten
Whew! At least now I have something to tell my wife. Maybe I will stop getting those "Oh, suuuure!" looks from her.
Wonder what kind of drug the pharmaceutical industry would create to address BZD.
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