Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Collection: Mental Health )

The DSM-IV (1994, APA) is the official manual listing psychiatric and psychological disorders. This document, published by the American Psychiatric Association, takes its coding scheme from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD; currently in its 9th edition I think) which is a diagnostic manual for all medical diseases, of which mental disorders are but a small part. It isn't an official diagnosis if it isn't in the DSM. Although many excellent and talented non-MD types (Ph.D.'s, etc.) contribute to the disorders categorized within it, the DSM is very much a document drenched in medical culture. Disorders within DSM are typically described in binary terms (you either have it or you don't) and the mode of diagnosis is reminiscent of ordering at a Chinese Restaurant ("...I'll take two from Column A and one from Column B, please."). While this logical structure works rather well for most medical illnesses (like an infection), it is not nearly as suited to describing psychologically based illnesses (like some forms of depression that exist in states of continuum).

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