Can DSM-5 Correct Its Mistakes? I Say No, DSM-5 Says Yes

DSM-5 stirred great public and professional controversy because it was so carelessly done and included so many obvious mistakes. At the time, the American Psychiatric Association tried to appease critics with the promise that the errors not picked up before DSM-5 publication would promptly be corrected after. DSM-5 was advertised as a "living document", not written in stone and was to be subject to constant revision and updating. Critics took little consolation in this promise that DSM-5 errors might eventually be corrected. With more time, clearer thinking, and competent text editing, the DSM-5 mistakes could and should have been identified and corrected before its publication. But APA was in an anxious rush to get DSM-5 to press, however rough its form. DSM-5 is a publishing cash cow necessary to balance the APA budget and has a captive audience of buyers that is not very sensitive to price or quality control. It is now almost three years since DSM-5 was published; time enough to judge whether it is living up to the promise that it would be a self correcting, "living document." To its credit, APA did establish a mechanism to identify DSM-5 errors and to correct them. Its most important achievement so far has been cleaning up the criteria set for Autistic Spectrum Disorder, which in the original DSM-5 was completely uninterpretable. And a number of other minor errors have  also been fixed. But the vast majority of DSM-5 mistakes and controversial decisions remain  unc...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news