Experts Argue for Addition of Suicide-Specific Diagnoses in DSM

A discrete, specific diagnosis of suicidal behavior disorder is included inDSM-5 Section III, which contains “conditions for further study.” Such a diagnosis could be enormously clinically useful, helping to identify at-risk patients for treatment and aiding in research on suicide, according to former APA President Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured at left), chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a director on the National Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She was the chair and a presenter at the Tuesday Annual Meeting session “The Argument for Suicide-Specific Diagnoses in theDSM. ”Inclusion of a diagnosis for suicidal behavior disorder would help solve a number of clinical and systemic problems associated with identifying patients at risk for suicide. Oquendo said that during an assessment, clinicians seek to make the primary diagnosis responsible for the chief complaint and use overview questions to identify comorbid conditions. If they do not find evidence for a major depressive episode or borderline personality disorder —two conditions for which DSM criteria specifically note a risk of suicide —questions about suicidal behavior may not be asked.“While institutions today generally require suicide screening for psychiatric cases, many patients are seen in other settings that may not,” she said.Moreover, since the Mental Status Examination targets the patients ’ p...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: APA's 2019 Annual Meeting DSM Igor Galynker Maria Oquendo suicide suicide prevention suicide-specific diagnoses Thomas Joiner Source Type: research