Why The U.S. National Institute Of Mental Health Plans To Abandon The DSM
Proportions of the Head Leonardo da VinciThe National Institute of Mental Health published a statement last week about a shift in the way it will conduct research. The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health is turning its back on the so-called bible of its field. In a statement, the institute said it will start doing research in a way that ignores the categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is commonly known as the "DSM," plus a number to indicate the edition. This just weeks before the American Psychiatric Association plans to published the fifth (and controversial) edition of the DSM. Instead of diagnosing patients based on symptoms such as depressed mood and fatigue, the institute wants to use more quantitative data, such as genetic or brain-imaging data, in diagnoses. Such a shift would bring mental health diagnoses to par with diagnoses in other health fields, according...