What is Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - Meaning and definition

Published by Roberto Wenk. Reviewed by Alison Ramsey. Last updated date: November 13, 2018.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), offers a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.
It is used, or relied upon, by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the legal system, and policy makers together with alternatives, such as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) produced by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The DSM is now in its fifth edition, DSM-5, published on May 18, 2013.

While the DSM has been praised for standardizing psychiatric diagnostic categories and criteria, it has also generated controversy and criticism. Critics argue that the DSM represents an unscientific and subjective system. There are ongoing issues concerning the validity and reliability of the diagnostic categories; the reliance on superficial symptoms; the use of artificial dividing lines between categories and from "normality"; possible cultural bias; and medicalization of human distress.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Internet. Accessed on June 14, 2016.

Published by Roberto Wenk. Last updated date: July 4, 2018.

The multiaxial system in DSM-IV - developed in order to provide a systematic framework for the thorough descriptive assessment of a given patient's psychiatric condition and overall functioning - was not required in DSM-V to make a mental disorder diagnosis.

A non axial assessment system was also included that simply listed the appropriate Axis I, II, and III disorders and conditions without axial designations. DSM-5 has moved to a non axial documentation of diagnosis (formerly Axes I, II, and III), with separate notations for important psychosocial and contextual factors (formerly Axis IV) and disability (formerly Axis V).
The approach of separately noting diagnosis from psychosocial and contextual factors is also consistent with established WHO and ICD guidance to consider the individual's functional status separately from his or her diagnoses or symptom status.

Adapted from American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Association. 2013. Internet. Accessed on May 23, 2016.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

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