Psychiatric Diagnoses and The DSM Manual

Work is underway on the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the "DSM." The DSM is used by psychiatrists and other clinicians to assign labels to mental disorders and to find appropriate drugs to treat them. The DSM is also used by insurance companies who use the guide to make reimbursement decisions, and by attorneys to substantiate evidence in court cases. The process of revising the manual is carried out by a group of psychiatrists behind closed doors, but because the DSM is used in such a broad and official capacity, there has been criticism lately that its revision process should be more transparent and open to scrutiny. One of the main concerns raised is that the DSM contains too many diagnoses, which leads to the pathologizing of normal human behavior. David Lazarus talks with Dr. Michael First, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and editor the current edition of the DSM.