The DSM Classification System is a system of symptoms and behaviors that are used by Trained Medical, Psychological and Psychiatric Professionals to diagnose and categorize mental disorders. If you recognize any of the symptoms or behaviors listed please seek medical counsel. This is for informational purposes only and is in no way meant to replace your doctor’s medical opinion, treatments or diagnoses. Please defer to them in all matters related to you, or your child’s mental health.
From Wikipedia: “The DSM has attracted controversy and criticism as well as praise. There have been five revisions since it was first published in 1952, gradually including more mental disorders, although some have been removed and are no longer considered to be mental disorders, most notably homosexuality.
Many mental health professionals use the manual to determine and help communicate a patient’s diagnosis after an evaluation; hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies in the US also generally require a ‘five axis’ DSM diagnosis of all the patients treated. Check here for a list of specific DSM-IV codes and symptomology”
** The American Psychiatric Association has both a website and Facebook page dedicated to information regarding the latest release (2011) of the Diagnostic Manual aka DSM-5
Each disorder has it’s own symptomatology and classification code.
These codes are also given to your insurance company to organize payment.
There are multiple codes used including but not limited to:
- 300.00 Anxiety Disorder NOS
- 296.90 Mood Disorder NOS (not otherwise specified) – see DSM-5 for updated information.
- 300.02 Generalized Anxiety disorder
- 300.30 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- 311.00 Depressive disorder NOS
- 314.00 ADHD, Inattentive
- 314.01 ADHD, combined.
- 309.9 Adjustment disorder NOS
- 296.** Bipolar disorder I, II, NOS – see DSM-5 for updated information.
- 299.80 Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS – See 299.80 Asperger’s Disorder.
- 299.00 Autistic disorder
- 309.81 PTSD
- 313.81 ODD
- 299.80 Asperger’s Disorder
- DSM-5 has added a new disorder: Temper Disregulation Disorder :TDD would be different from most other diagnoses in DSM-5, in that all of its core diagnostic criteria are shared by other DSM disorders. There are no signs or symptoms that are unique to TDD. Criterion A, irritable and/or sad mood, is part of the diagnostic criteria for many disorders in child psychiatry: dysthymic disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and ODD. Criterion B, severe tem-per outbursts, is a behavioral manifestation of irritable mood; these outbursts can be present in all of the preceding disorders, and temper outbursts are part of the DSM-IV criteria for ODD and for intermittent explosive disorder.
- Should there be a separate diagnostic category for complex PTSD related to childhood trauma in the DSM-V?
At a conference I attended in February 2010, Dr. van der Kolk opined this lack of an adequate diagnostic code resulted in dangerous consequences for kids. He estimates that as many as 8 million children in the U.S.A. have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and/or ADHD and prescribed large doses of medication. Yet, he’s observed the root of the problem for many of these kids lies in disrupted attachment, abuse, or neglect that is often left untreated.
As there is a new manual being released I will not be placing diagnostic criteria under each diagnosis. You can easily look up each code and it’s list of traits by either Googling the code or by clicking the wikipedia link above and following the links from there.