DSM IV

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, or DSM - IV for short, is a textbook put out by the American Psychiatric Association. It is based on the most current mental health clinical research and written by over a 1000 mental health workers, including physicians, nurses, researchers, social workers, and others. The DSM - IV essentially summarizes the current accepted diagnostic criteria (i.e., the common signs & symptoms) of psychiatric and mental illness. The behavioral signs & symptoms of depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic disorder, and ADHD, to name only a few, are summarized in this extensive book.

Health care professionals can use these classifications to help give a name to the constellation of behaviors a patient exhibits. In addition, treatment can be offered that has been shown to benefit others who have had the same, or similar, behaviors. In the case of ADHD, the DSM -IV allows us to differentiate between normal hyperactive behavior often seen in children and that which is considered abnormal.

Of course the DSM - IV is not necessarily right, and each successive edition updates and modifies the diagnostic criteria of mental illness based on recent clinical studies and our current beliefs. The DSM - IV essentially summarizes our current understanding of the signs & symptoms of mental illness.