A question-and-answer forum and several symposia will highlight recent
developments in the revision process for the fifth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). All
sessions will take place Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19.
The forum, "DSM-V: Progress in Research and
Development," will provide an opportunity to hear experts from the
DSM-V Task Force respond to questions and concerns about the revision
process.
"Outreach and dissemination are vital components of DSM-V
development," said Darrel Regier, M.D., M.P.H., vice chair of the
DSM-V Task Force and executive director of the American Psychiatric
Institute for Research and Education (APIRE).
"The overarching goal for the members of the DSM-V Task
Force and work groups is to produce a manual that not only adheres to the
scientific base but is meaningful and useful to clinicians and their patients.
Feedback from those in the psychiatric community and from researchers and
health care providers at large helps inform their decision-making process. It
is both our responsibility and our pleasure to make DSM-V an
inclusive endeavor."
Two of the three symposia will address issues that apply to all diagnoses."
Public Health Aspects of Diagnosis and Classification of Mental
Disorders: A DSM-V Research Agenda" will feature five
presentations on public health, consumer, and primary care implications of the
classification of psychiatric disorders. This symposium will review points
raised at the DSM-V public health planning conference—one in a
series of 13 conferences funded by the National Institutes of Health to
provide the research base for DSM-V revisions.
The second symposium, "Evolution of the DSM-V Conceptual
Framework: Development, Dimensions, Disability, Spectra, and
Gender/Culture," will underscore cross-cutting issues facing all members
of the diagnostic work groups, such as how to consider gender-specific and
age-specific features of disorders.
The remaining symposium, "In or Out? A Discussion About Gender
Identity Diagnoses and the DSM," will focus on diagnostic
issues specific to gender identity disorder, particularly the issues of having
gender identity disorder listed in DSM-V and the implications of
removing it. Several leaders in the transgender community will speak at this
symposium.
William Narrow, M.D., M.P.H., DSM-V research director and
associate director of APA's Division of Research, said that the focus on both
specific disorders and broader issues in the development of DSM-V is
a noteworthy feature of this year's sessions.
"There are certainly specific disorders that have attracted a fair
amount of attention, and it is important that we address the issues around
these disorders, as we are doing this year with gender identity
disorder," he said. "But it is also important for our members to
understand the overarching issues being tackled in the revision, which could
affect all disorders. The incorporation of dimensional assessments,
improvements in the assessment of disability, and having a more
developmentally sensitive approach to diagnosis should make DSM-V a
much more effective tool for improved patient care."
APIRE invites questions and comments for the forum, which can
submitted either by e-mail at
dsmv@psych.org
(with "DSM-V Forum Question" in the subject line) or online at<www.dsmv.org>.
Speakers in the sessions below will give updates on the development of
DSM-V. In the first session listed below, annual meeting attendees
will have an opportunity to ask questions of the experts working on the
diagnostic manual. All sessions will be held in the Moscone Center.
DSM-V: Progress in Research and Development
Evolution of the DSM-V Conceptual Framework: Development,
Dimensions, Disability, Spectra, and Gender/Culture
Room 132-133, Exhibit Level North
In or Out? A Discussion About Gender Identity Diagnoses and the
DSM
Room 121, Exhibit Level North
Public Health Aspects of Diagnosis and Classification of Mental
Disorders: A DSM-V Research Agenda
Room 301, Esplanade Level ▪