Open issues in psychiatric nozology: conceptual framework of American classification of mental disorders (DSM)

Abstract

Fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM -5 ) , was published In May 2013, by the American Psychiatric Association. It was expected to bring a new paradigm shift in the understanding of mental disorders. This document in its main preassumptions did not depart significantly from the Third edition in 1980. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the conceptual framework of this classification, elements of which could be enlisted as following: mental disorders are conceptualized as a diseases by the biomedical model , and as such they are clearly separated from the "healthy" mental functioning; they are the consequence of a pathological processes in the structure and functioning of the brain, and manifested by clusters of symptoms and signs of disease which are assumed to have a specific etiology. This paper provides an overview of the current discussions and criticism of this paradigm that is currently dominant in academic psychiatry.