Dsm And Psychiatry

Translated into over twenty languages, referred to by clinicians from multiple schools, as well as by researchers, policy-makers, criminal courts, and third-party reimbursement entities [1], the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM) enjoys a nearly hegemonic status as the reference for the assessment and categorization of mental disorders of all types - not only in the United States, but increasingly in Europe and more recently Asia. To be sure, the discipline and practice of psychiatry has changed since the first DSM was released, and with the fifth edition (DSM-V) currently in field trials in preparation for general release in spring 2013, there is renewed discussion - and debate - about whether this

Therefore, it is important to consider if, and how the DSM-V will manifest impact in and upon the character and conduct of psychiatry, medicine and the social sphere. Toward this end, we pose a Socratic question - from where have the DSM and psychiatry come, and to where are they going? Thus, this essay seeks to analytically scrutinize - and contextualize - the major developments that have occurred in various editions of the DSM, focusing upon factors that motivated its development in 1952, and the multiple changes and repercussions various editions have effected in psychiatry over the past sixty years. Inquiry to the history of such a prominent standardized nosology of mental disorders may be a means of probing (at least in contours and highlights) the intellectual landscape of psychiatry throughout the second half of the twentieth century. In this light, three major "phases" will be addressed: first is the period encompassing the formulation and release of the first and subsequent second edition of the DSM; second is the period of the rather 'revolutionary' DSM-III, and third is the post-DSM-III period to the present, during which the DSM-IV and DSM-IV Text-Revised (DSM-IVTR) editions were released. Particular emphasis shall be upon