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Comparison of DSM-III, DSM-III-R & DSM-IV

Comparison of the DSM-III, DSM-III-R and DSM-IV Manuals

The issue of psychiatric diagnosis, strictly avoided during the golden years of psychoanalysis in the 1940's and 1950's, rose to prominence in the early 1960's in conjunction with the "neoKraepelinian" school of thought. The neo-Kraepelinians sought to revive interest in the objective-descriptive approach to psychiatry; this approach involved classifying the signs, symptoms, course, and prognosis of mental illnesses through observation of phenomenological events rather than through etiological theories (Denton, 1989; Robins & Helzer, 1986). The American Psychiatric Association published their first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-I) in 1952, followed in 1968 by the DSM-II. However, neither document was as heavily influenced by the neo-Kraepelians and other proponents of descriptive psychiatry as the DSM-III (Robins & Helzer, 1986).

The format and content of the DSM-III was considered a radical change in psychiatry's approach to diagnosis. It was also the subject of a great deal of controversy even before publication of the final document. At a conceptual level, one of the most controversial issues concerned a proposed definition of mental disorders that was included in a draft discussion of the DSM-III: The definition, prepared by two members of the DSM-III Task Force, Robert Spitzer and Jean Endicott, contained the statement that "'mental disorders [are] a subset of medical disorders ... with primarily behavioral manifestations'" (Schacht & Nathan, 1977). This statement caused a storm of protest from psychology professionals who viewed this as an attempt by the psychiatric community to emphasize the superiority of a model which at this point in time was considered an anachronism by many mental health professionals. Schacht and Nathan (1977) prepared an indepth critique of the problems inherent in Spitzer and Endicott's definition, including the implicit dic...

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Comparison of DSM-III, DSM-III-R & DSM-IV. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:24, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1705146.html