Implications The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been in existence for nearly sixty years, and began with the need to track statistical information of those classified as having a mental health disorder (Sartorius, et al., 1993). Since this time, the DSM has been revised multiple times in an attempt to have a commonality of mental disorders among differing clinicians around the world. This commonality has been met with a great deal of criticism and has been enveloped with controversy, particularly the current new release of the DSM V. For clinicians, the DSM is used as a diagnostic criterion tool that guides a diagnosis of mental disorder, and with each revision; a new learning curve must be advanced. However, …show more content…
Throughout each revision, the DSM faced challenges by the professional community in reference to nomenclature, scientific developments, lack of specific definitions, inconsistencies, and finally, with the need for empirical foundations of criteria in the DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2015). These issues lead to the twelve-year compilation of the DSM V in 2013. Before the release of this manual, the group in charge of the mechanics of the manual requested input from the professional community of practitioners from around the world, which lead to a great deal of peer experience and knowledge. However, the selection and choices determined by the group of what information was applied and not applied, has drastically changed the manual in multiple …show more content…
Many have questioned the empirical basis for disorders such as gender dysphoria (Lev, 2013), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Greenberg, Brooks, & Dunn, 2015), personality disorders (Skodol, 2011), learning disabilities (Scanlon, 2013), and many other disorders. The majority of the concern comes with the ambiguity of the methodology used in defining these disorders. The DSM V uses a blended dimensional and categorical approach. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), this approach was used in order to facilitate a cohesive diagnosis of individuals from mild to severe across differing clinical practices (2015). However, many practitioners argue combing a dimensional approach with a categorical approach has given way to a broad, unadulterated, overly generalized diagnosis of specific mental disorders. As Francis and Jones write in reference to using the DSM V criteria, “makes this worse by relabeling as mental disorder the sadness of grief, the temper tantrums of children, the normal forgetfulness of old age, the everyday distractibility of adult life, the worries of the medically ill, and the temptations of binge eating” (Frances & Jones, 2014). This opinion is reiterated with research, in regards to the empirical basis of categorization used in psychology for more than sixty years. Researchers have done little in the
The DSM-5 lists approximately 400 mental disorders, each one explains the criteria for diagnosing the disorder and key clinical features, and sometimes describes features that are often times not related to the disorder. The classification is further explained by the background information such as: research findings, age, culture, gender trends, and each disorder’s prevalence, risk, course, complications, predisposing factors, and family patterns (Comer, 2013, pp.100).... ... middle of paper ... ...
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
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middle of paper ... ... Retrieved June 16, 2002, from http://nimh.nih.gov/publicat/numbers.cfm. National Mental Health Association. 2000 May 15.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been used for decades as a guidebook for the diagnosis of mental disorders in clinical settings. As disorders and diagnoses evolve, new versions of the manual are published. This tends to happen every 10 years or so with the first manual (DSM-I) having been published in 1952. For the purpose of this discussion, we will look at the DSM-IV, which was published originally in 1994, and the latest version, DSM-5, that was published in May of 2013. Each version of the DSM contains “three major components: the diagnostic classification, the diagnostic criteria sets, and the descriptive text” (American Psychiatric Association, 2012). Within the diagnostic classification you will find a list of disorders and codes which professionals in the health care field use when a diagnosis is made. The diagnostic criteria will list symptoms of disorders and inform practitioners how long a patient should display those symptoms in order to meet the criteria for diagnosis of a disorder. Lastly, the descriptive text will describe disorders in detail, including topics such as “Prevalence” and “Differential Diagnosis” (APA, 2012). The recent update of the DSM from version IV-TR to 5 has been controversial for many reasons. Some of these reasons include the overall structure of the DSM to the removal of certain disorders from the manual.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the comprehensive guide to diagnosing psychological disorders. This manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is currently in its fifth revision. Moreover, the manual is utilized by a multitude of mental health care professionals around the world in the process of identifying individuals with disorders and provides a comprehensive list of the various disorders that have been identified. The DSM serves as the essential resource for diagnosis of mental disorders based off of the various signs and symptoms displayed by individuals while also providing a basic reference point for the treatment of the different disorders. The manual attempts to remain scientific in its approach to identifying the underlying symptoms of each disorder while meeting the needs of the different psychological perspectives and the various mental health fields. The DSM has recently gone through a major revision from the DSM-IV-TR to the DSM-5 and contains many significant changes in both the diagnosis of mental disorders and their classifications.
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McGrath, E. C., McGonagle, K.A., Zhao, S., Nelson, C.B., Hughes, M., Eshleman, S., Wittchen, H-U., & Kendler, K.S.(2007).Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 3-14.
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Identification of any psychosocial or contextual factors to be considered, as outlined in the DSM-5
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According to many studies the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders known as the DSM has been praised and helped in many situations. It has helped psychiatric diagnostic categories and criteria. The DSM has helped form subjective systems and categories from normality, cultural bases or medicalization of human distress. All over the United States the Diagnostic and Statistical manual is used. The DSM answers many questions whenever it comes to mental disorders.
Kessler, R., Chiu, W., Demler, O., & Walters, E. (2005, June). The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America. Retrieved Febuary 13, 2011, from National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov