DSM-5: The New “Bible of Psychiatry” , On May 18, 2013, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), a national medical group whose membership of psychiatric physicians numbers more than 36,000. The DSM-5, the result of more than a decade of research and debate, provides an updated classification of mental disorders and identifies the relevant signs and symptoms. As a tool both for doctors who work with patients and for researchers, it is intended to help mental health professionals diagnose and categorize mental disorders. The new manual has received considerable criticism in some quarters, however.
Though utilized in countries besides the United States, the DSM is primarily used in the U.S., where it has become the preeminent psychiatric diagnostic tool. A patient’s DSM-based diagnosis is considered to be of great importance for his or her future; it is generally employed by physicians to determine treatment recommendations and serves as the basis for authorized payments by health care providers and insurance companies. The American insurance industry uses the DSM to categorize, code, and reimburse patients and health care providers. Researchers are more likely to receive funding if they research a disorder that is recognized by the DSM. The U.S. government refers to it to determine reimbursement for health care services, which places pressure on physicians to use the DSM instead of any other psychiatric diagnostic system, such as the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
The History of the DSM
In 1917 the American Medico-Psychological Association, a statistical organization that would eventually become the APA, worked with the National Committee for Mental Hygiene to create the Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane (1918), which classified 22 diagnoses. In 1952 the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, with a primary focus on soldiers and military veterans, was released. Aiming for clinical usefulness, the DSM-I had a formal listing of the approved diagnostic categories and showed 106 disorders. The DSM-II, which listed 182 disorders, came out in 1968. In a major change from past volumes, a 1974 revision of the DSM-II removed homosexuality as a mental disorder and thus formally eliminated any psychiatric stigma.
The DSM-III, published in 1980, had many changes, including clearer diagnostic descriptions, an approach that stressed patterns of symptoms rather than any specific theories of causality, and the avoidance of treatment recommendations. This purely diagnostic emphasis facilitated the manual’s acceptance by many mental health professionals. However, some important inconsistencies and a lack of clarity were found in the DSM-III, necessitating the creation of a revised edition—the DSM-III-R, which was published in 1987. The DSM-IV appeared in 1994; it had a greatly expanded list of 297 disorders and was updated in a “text revision” called the DSM-IV-TR in 2000.
Notable Changes in the DSM-5
The DSM-5, with more than 300 diagnoses, is the result of a 14-year revision process. It has three sections: DSM-5 Basics, Diagnostic Criteria and Codes, and Emerging Measures and Models, as well as a preface and an appendix. Overall, the DSM-5 does not depart greatly from the DSM-IV, but there are a number of significant distinctions. These include:
- In the DSM-IV, clinicians were told to not diagnose major depressive disorder in an individual within two months of an important bereavement. That stipulation has been removed from the DSM-5 in an effort to remove any suggestion that grief can protect against major depression.
- Asperger syndrome, formerly a separate disorder, is now subsumed under the autism spectrum disorder category.
- Hoarding has been changed from a subcategory of obsessive-compulsive disorder to its own distinct disorder.
- Gender identity disorder is now called gender dysphoria.
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a newly recognized condition affecting children aged 6–18 who show ongoing irritability with flare-ups occurring weekly over more than a year.
The Critical Debate over the DSM-5
The DSM-5 has faced unprecedented questioning and criticism from many quarters. A very extensive and important concern, espoused by many prominent psychiatrists and psychologists, is that the DSM-5 has broadened its categories to such an extent that almost everyone is diagnosable with some mental disorder.
Many have expressed the view that the DSM-5’s categories and diagnoses should be more clearly based upon a genetic, neuroscientific, or biological understanding of the disorders. Thomas R. Insel, director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), went so far as to say that the DSM-5 showed a lack of scientific validity. The real problem, many scientists have noted, is that the complexity of the brain and of the biology of mental disorders, as well as the complex interplay of genes involved, has often prevented the kind of clear-cut results about causality that patients, researchers, and drug manufacturers have sought. This issue has resulted in not only a stall in research into the underlying biology of mental illness and its treatment but also a decrease in funding such research.
Echoing such views, David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, who chaired the task force that revised the DSM, has expressed the belief that the DSM-5 is not appreciably more specific and sensitive in its diagnostic capabilities because the research (biological and neurological) carried out between the DSM-5 and the previous edition did not provide the kind of data necessary to make such improvements. Indeed, the NIMH has indicated that it will be shifting research away from the DSM diagnostic categories toward the biological bases of disorders, and the American Psychological Association is encouraging its members to use the ICD instead of the DSM-5.
There has been much more criticism than praise for the DSM-5. There are some notable positive changes in the new manual, however:
- A few disorders that had been identified with a diagnostic label perceived to be unflattering or negative have been renamed. For example, the designation “mental retardation” has been changed to “intellectual disability,” and “hypochondriasis” has been changed to “illness anxiety disorder.” A number of diagnostic category names have also been modified, including “autistic disorder,” which has been relabeled “autistic spectrum disorder” and, as noted above, now includes the formerly separate Asperger syndrome.
- A new method for evaluating suicide risk has been added.
- DSM-5 has removed the multiaxial diagnostic system, which sought information separate from the main diagnosis in an attempt to provide a better understanding of the patient. This included data concerning clinical disorders and mental health conditions (apart from the primary diagnosis) as well as other medical conditions. They now simply note these circumstances separately.
The DSM’s Future
Considering the DSM’s long-standing hugely important role in American psychiatry, it seems likely that it will remain the preeminent diagnostic tool for the foreseeable future and that for at least the next 10 years, American insurance companies will continue to issue reimbursements by using the DSM as a framework. Thus, the future looks good for the DSM, especially if it incorporates the fundamental changes sought by the DSM-5’s critics—notably an increased focus on the underlying biology of mental illness—and it seems poised to do so. As Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of the psychiatry department at Columbia University, New York City, and the APA’s president-elect said, “The last thing we want to do is be defensive or apologetic about the state of our field [psychiatry]. But at the same time, we’re not satisfied with it either. There’s nothing we’d like better than to have more scientific progress.”
Additional Media
