Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

Arnoldo Cantú

There’s a big, hairy problem shadowing our field: what, exactly, is a mental disorder? Is using diagnostic language helping or hurting our clients? The way... Read more

The Future of Diagnosis

Traveling Beyond the Limits of the DSM

Take a magical journey beyond the DSM’s pathologizing legacy to a place where therapists can name and categorize suffering, while still taking into account... Read more

Editor's Note: September/October 2023

Our Love-Hate Relationship with Diagnoses

When we hear the word diagnosis, it’s hard not to think of the DSM. The dreaded DSM. But hating this particular book is nothing new... Read more

A Never-Ending Adjustment Disorder

How Therapists Navigate the Paradox of Diagnosis

A lot can go awry when you identify a person with a disorder—but avoiding diagnosis altogether isn’t always the right solution either. How are therapists... Read more

Allen Frances, formerly of Duke University, wrote the clinical diagnosis for narcissistic personality disorder that first appeared in the third edition of the... Read more

The Medication Question

Do We Still Need Therapy?

Americans have a history of valuing quick-fix solutions to difficult problems. But the simplistic psychopharmacological approach to depressive disorders... Read more

Stronger Medicine

Anti-Depressants Haven't Made Therapy Obsolete

Americans have a history of valuing quick-fix solutions to difficult problems. But the simplistic psychopharmacological approach to depressive disorders... Read more

The Politics of PTSD

How a Diagnosis Battled Its Way into the DSM

During Vietnam, there were proportionately far fewer reported cases of trauma on the actual battlefield than there'd been in previous wars. The primary reason... Read more

VIDEO: The Hidden Toll of DSM-5 on Psychotherapy

How Increasing Medication Sales Hurt the Therapy Profession

Allen Frances—author of "Saving Normal: Has Psychiatric Diagnosis Gotten Out of Control?"—is one of DSM-5’s most outspoken critics, but his ultimate... Read more

Rather than continuing to lament the deficiencies of DSM-5, forensic psychiatrist David Mays wants to focus on what's ahead for the psychotherapy field. In his... Read more