Three representatives of B4U-ACT sent the following letter to the members of the DSM-5 Paraphilias Subworkgroup and the chair of the DSM-5 Task Force, asking for a meeting with members of the subworkgroup in order to provide input on the revision of the DSM as it relates to minor-attracted people.
December 5, 2009
Dr. Ray Blanchard
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
250 College Street
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8
Canada
Dear Dr. Blanchard:
We represent an organization that is dedicated to dialog and mutual understanding between mental health professionals and people who are emotionally and sexually attracted to children or adolescents. One of our core principles is “Nothing about us without us”; that is, we believe that important decisions that seriously affect the lives of any group of people should include input from that group of people.
Similarly, the APA website on the DSM revision process states that the work groups include representation from “patient and family groups.” The recent APA Statement on GID and the DSM-V also says that the revision process seeks “input from stakeholders” and that the APA’s goal is to develop a manual that is “sensitive to the needs of clinicians and their patients.”
It is in this spirit that we, as people who are attracted to minors, request the opportunity to meet with members of the DSM-V sub-work group on the paraphilias. We believe a meeting would be mutually beneficial. We welcome your reply by mail, telephone, or email. Michael Melsheimer can be reached at 410-751-9571, and Richard Kramer can be reached at rkramer@b4uact.org. We would greatly appreciate your response in a timely manner.
Sincerely,
Michael Melsheimer
Richard Kramer
William Andriette
cc:
Richard B. Krueger, M.D.
Niklas Langstrom, M.D., Ph.D.
Martin P. Kafka, M.D.
David J. Kupfer, M.D.
