DSM-5 edition--outdated already?

Despite release of the recent update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition (DSM-5), the mental healthcare providers’ basic reference guide in identifying and categorizing mental illness, many experts are distinctly displeased. The problem is science—or rather, lack of it.

This is no fault of the publishers. Research in neuroscience is in its infancy and is just beginning to reveal problems in the brain that lead to mental illness.

In his blog last year, US National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) Director Tom Insel said, “NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories. Going forward, we will be supporting research projects that look across current categories – or sub-divide current categories – to begin to develop a better system.”

And earlier this year, the NIMH published a list of 23 core brain functions with associated neural circuitry, neurotransmitters and genes along with related behaviours and emotions.

Read more here.