Benefits and Challenges of the DSM-5
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Benefits and Challenges of the DSM-5
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM-5) is a diagnostic criterion that allows the classification of mental health disorders. The criterion was published in 2013 and is an improvement of previous editions I, II, III, and IV. The DSM-V is applied by the mental health practitioners for various uses such as the development of treatment plans based on the patient’s clinical manifestations and others use the tool as a guideline to help in conceptualizing the patient while emphasizing the patient’s distinct set of circumstances (Cooper, 2017).
The benefits of the DSM-5 include the standardization of the billing and coding processes, guiding research, guiding treatment, and standardization of diagnoses and treatment. The DSM-5 allows easy and accurate billing and coding of patients with minimal mistakes. Standardization of the diagnoses ensures that the clinicians can provide effective treatment and develop specific goals for patients based on the patient’s assessment and set of characteristics (Cooper, 2017). In research, the DSM-5 ensures that researchers study the same disorder since many disorders have varying symptoms. The DSM-5 tool facilitates therapeutic guidance in proper and accurate diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.
The challenges of using the DSM-5 include oversimplification of the human behavior, increasing the risk of misdiagnosis or diagnosis as well as providing labels that can be stigmatizing to the patients. A major challenge of using the DSM-5 is the risk of misdiagnosing or over-diagnosis especially when an individual is labeled as having a certain disorder since their behavior does not align with the current ideal. The DSM-5 may result in labeling and stigmatization of patients based on the clinical manifestations that they demonstrate. DSM-5 uses labels to classify mental disorders, which may be seen as a method of reducing complex human behavior to labels and numbers thus losing the human element.
Reference
Cooper, R. (2017). Understanding the DSM-5: stasis and change. History of Psychiatry, 29(1), 49-65.