DSM-5 and neurodevelopmental and other disorders of childhood and adolescence.
This article first appeared in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Wills CD. DSM-5 and neurodevelopmental and other disorders of childhood and adolescence. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2014, 42:165-72.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the classification of mental disorders for children and adolescents has been revised. Although some changes are welcome and needed, others have been controversial. In this article, I examine the diagnostic changes along with some of the associated controversies and resolutions. The implications for the practice of child forensic psychiatry, including problems that may be encountered by forensic psychiatrists who evaluate adults with childhood-onset mental disorders, are examined. The pitfalls associated with improper use of The Manual by legal professionals are also reviewed.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)1 represents the culmination of a multinational interdisciplinary effort to incorporate a body of empirical studies into a resource for classifying mental illness (Ref. 1, p.7). The DSM-5 Child and Adolescent Disorders Work Group was cognizant of the controversy surrounding their recommendation to reclassify several DSM-IV2 disorders, including some that affect children and adolescents. The contents of DSM-5, at times, reflect their responsiveness to those concerns.3