DSM-5: Controversies.

Behavioral and mental disorders affect many people in the United States and throughout the world. A leading cause of disability, these disorders strike individuals of all ages and at every income level. Typically arising in adolescence and early adulthood, behavioral and mental disorders often prevent those who experience them from fulfilling their employment, educational, and personal aspirations. In general, these disorders affect how people think, feel, and behave and are highly variable in onset, severity, course, and prognosis. The first step in treating psychiatric and psychological disorders is proper assessment and diagnosis. Diagnoses focus psychiatrists, psychologists, and allied behavioral health professionals in the selection of treatments, medications and other interventions for effectively alleviating the symptoms. Psychiatric and psychological disorders are detailed in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA's) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), in its 5th edition as of 2016. Known as DSM-5, the fifth edition of the manual was released in 2013 after more than ten years of review, debate, and field-testing. During its evolution and initial implementation, DSM-5 was seriously criticized from a variety of quarters, including prominent psychiatrists and psychologists who participated in the creation of previous editions of the DSM. These criticisms pointed to DSM-5's developmental flaws and dubious usefulness as the diagnostic guidebook in psychiatry, psychology, and allied behavioral health clinical specialties.