The Controversy Over DSM-V

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association provides a common language and standard criteria for theclassification of mental disorders. It is used in the United States and in varying degrees around the world, by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers. The current version is the DSM-IV-TR (fourth edition, text revision). It is organized into a five-part 'axis' system, with the first axis incorporating 'clinical disorders' and the second covering personality disorders and intellectual disabilities. The remaining axes cover related medical, psychosocial and environmental factors, as well as assessments of functioning for children.

The manual evolved from systems for collecting census and psychiatric hospital statistics, and from a manual developed by the United States Army, and was substantially revised in 1980. There have been five revisions since it was first published in 1952, gradually including more mental disorders, although some have been removed and are no longer considered to be mental disorders. The last major revision was the fourth edition ("DSM-IV"), published in 1994, although a "text revision" was produced in 2000. The fifth edition ("DSM-5") is currently in consultation, planning and preparation, due for publication in May 2013.

The DSM has attracted praise for standardizing psychiatric diagnostic categories and criteria. It has also attracted controversy and criticism. Some critics argue that the DSM represents an unscientific system that enshrines the opinions of a few powerful psychiatrists. 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; medicalization of human distress and financial conflicts of interest, including with the practice of psychiatrists and with the pharmaceutical industry; political controversies about the inclusion or exclusion of diagnoses from the manual, in general or in regard to specific issues; and the experience of those who are most directly affected by the manual by being diagnosed, including the consumer/survivor movement. The publication of the DSM, with tightly guarded copyrights, now makes APA over $5 million a year, historically adding up to over $100 million.

The development of DSM 5 has been undertaken by a closed committee under closely guarded secrecy. Over the last years or so a more and more information about what the upcoming version of DSM-5 will look like as well as the process through which it is being develop has been disclosed to both professional and the public a growing controversy has been brewing. Below are links to a number of blogs that have been posted on a variety of websites outlining some of the details of this controversy.

Problems with DSM-5 

Challenging of DSM-5 is Growing Fast

DSM-5 in Distress

Two Fallacies Invalidate DSM-5 Field Trials

Psychologist Start Petition Against DSM-5

DSM-5 and Diagnostic Inflation