Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)  is a book explaining mental disorders. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association. It is used in the United States and around the world by doctors, researchers, health insurance companies, companies which make medicine, and others.

There have been five versions since it was first published in 1952. Each time, more mental disorders were added, although some have been removed and are no longer seen as mental disorders. An example of this is homosexuality. 

The manual was developed from systems for collecting census and psychiatric hospital statistics, and from a manual written by the US Army. A lot of changes were made to it in 1980. The last time it was greatly changed was the fourth edition ("'DSM-IV'"), published in 1994, but small changes to text were made in a 2000 version. The fifth edition ("DSM-5") was published May 2013.

The DSM has been criticized for being too influenced by the drug industry.

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, ICD, has a section about mental and behavioral disorders which is different from the DSM. The ICD, not the DSM, is the system used by the United States government.

References

Category:Medical manuals