In a world riddled with people wanting to provide “scientific” answers for everything, the American Psychiatric Association and their de-facto mental illness manual “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (also known as DSM-5, in its current edition) has now officially listed Caffeine Use Disorder for mental health professionals.
Keep in mind, this is the same DSM that had listed homosexuality as a disorder for an uncomfortably long amount of time, before removing it.
Some healthcare professionals believe this addition of things like caffeine use disorder takes away from the seriousness of certain mental disorders. People already tend to stigmatize people with mental disorders in ways that lead to thinking they’re more dangerous than they are, or distracting from actually getting them help. The gun debate hasn’t helped this.
But, at the same time, there are people who consume way too much caffeine, and even WebMD states that caffeine addiction is a thing. However, WebMD says that addiction is mostly a myth, and is almost always a very mild withdrawal, especially when compared to other horrific withdrawal stories you may hear in regards to street drug usage.
So, what’s your take? Is Caffeine Use Disorder worthy of being in the DSM? Is the APA overreaching? Does this affect your coffee consumption in any way? For me, no; but you need to reach your own conclusions, and I’m curious about them.
