What’s a DSM?

I think we’ve all heard of the DSM at some point in our mental health journeys. So… what is it, exactly?

The DSM, also known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is on it’s 5th variation. Each variation comes with an updated list of diagnoses and criteria for each diagnoses. Often, names of diagnoses are changed to address the colloquialism of mental health disorders (eg., Munchausen’s by Proxy was changed to Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another… doesn’t have quite the same flow, but Munchausen isn’t even a real person). Some disorders are disposed of alltogether (homosexuality was dropped as a disorder in the 3rd variation), and sometimes, the powers at be change minute language to better match the statistical outcomes of what’s been researched.

So what does the DSM do? It serves as a basis when understanding basic criteria for mental health diagnoses. The DSM does not carry the breadth of symptoms for diagnoses. For example, an inflated sense of responsibility is a significant and debilitating symptom of OCD, but you won’t find it in the DSM. It’s a nuance of the disorder that isn’t part of the minimum criteria for diagnosis of OCD.

The DSM also serves as a universal playbook for licensed clinicians to bill insurance. Chaos would ensue if we didn’t have a universal standard for diagnoses and subsequent treatment plans.

To summarize… the DSM is useful, but doesn’t cover all nuances of every disorder. It’s called a manual for a reason… an instruction manual for your favorite IKEA furniture isn’t going to tell you all the great ways you can use your new rocking chair, it’s simply going to give you the building blocks.