Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM-5

DSM-5

The next (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), DSM-5, is currently in consultation, planning and preparation. It is due for publication in May 2013. APA has a website about the development, including draft versions. APA.org is periodically listing several sections of DSM-V for review and discussion. It includes several changes, including proposed deletion of the subtypes of schizophrenia.

Former DSM psychiatrist Allen Frances has expressed concern regarding what he calls 'commercialism and heavy handed censorship' in the DSM-V process. He argues that psychiatric classification is too important to be left under the exclusive control of one professional organization. Frances and others have published debates on what they see as the six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis:

• are they more like theoretical constructs or more like diseases
• how to reach an agreed definition
• whether the DSM-V should take a cautious or conservative approach
• the role of practical rather than scientific considerations
• the issue of use by clinicians or researchers
• whether an entirely different diagnostic system is required.

In 2011, psychologist Brent Robbins co-authored a national letter for the Society for Humanistic Psychology that has brought thousands into the public debate about the DSM. Approximately 14,000 individuals and mental health professionals have signed a petition in support of the letter. Thirteen other American Psychological Association divisions have endorsed the petition. In a recent article about the debate in the San Francisco Chronicle, Robbins notes that under the new guidelines, certain responses to grief could be labeled as pathological disorders, instead of being recognized as being normal human experiences.