Will new 'psychiatric bible' change diagnoses?

Ryan Massey
Ryan Massey, 11, plays with some action figures while in his bedroom, Monday, Oct. 8, 2007, in Dacula, Ga. Ryan is the youngest of three brothers in his family, all of whom have aspergers syndrome.
John Amis/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual will be published in May 2013, and it includes some big changes. The DSM plays a key role in the way psychiatrists and psychologists diagnose and treat patients.

There has been some criticism of the new version as definitions of disorders become expanded or eliminated.

Time magazine highlighted the major changes we'll see in the DSM next year:

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1. Autistic disorder will become autism-spectrum disorder.

2. Binge-eating disorder will be moved from DSM's Appendix B -- a category of proposed conditions that require "further study" -- to a full-blown illness in the main part of the book.

3. The new DSM will remove the exception for bereavement from the definition of depression, which means psychiatrists will be able to diagnose depressive disorder even among those who have just lost a loved one.

4. Continuing the expansion of diagnostic criteria, the new DSM will also include a controversial new diagnosis called "disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD),"

5. DSM-5 will also incorporate the extremely rare disorders of excoriation (skin picking) and hoarding.

Dr. Ron Steingard, senior pediatric psychopharmacologist at Child Mind Institute, joins The Daily Circuit Tuesday, Dec. 18 to look at the implications of the new DSM.

Dr. Allen Francis, chair of the DSM IV Task Force, will also join the discussion.

READ MORE ABOUT THE NEW DSM:

Redefining crazy: Changes to the bible of psychiatric disorders (Time)

DSM-5: The future of psychiatric diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association)

Changes to the psychiatrists' bible, DSM: Some reactions (Los Angeles Times)

Asperger's syndrome dropped from American Psychiatric Association manual (CBS News)

Why are people so interested in the DSM-5? (Scientific American)

The DSM's controversial update