The American Psychological Association (APA) has announced in a news release that the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, scheduled for publication in 2012. The APA says "hundreds of clinical and neuroscience researchers, clinicians, and health care consumers from a variety of psychiatric specialties and backgrounds are working together" to develop the manual which has been the standard of psychiatric diagnosis.

According to the press release, the APA began the revision process with a series of conferences in 1999. The process has included conferences, research and debate amongst mental health experts in research and treatment.

"Revising the DSM is a massive effort and a responsibility that we take very seriously," said David J. Kupfer, M.D., chair of the DSM-V Task Force. "The APA has worked hard to ensure development of DSM-V is the most inclusive and transparent process in the history of the DSM."

Since 1999, there has been 13 Nation Institute of Health-supported international research conferences, including publication of monographs with research reviews developed in the conferences. The press release says more than 400 international scientists, clinicians and others psychiatric experts participated.

Due to the worldwide interest in and impact of the DSM, the APA has created a Web site, DSM5.org, to accept comments for wider research and consumer communities. The release says an options book listing major diagnostic issues and alternative ways of dealing with them will be available this summer. In addition, a draft version of DSM-V criteria will be released in 2010. There will be a period of comment following the draft, and the work groups will review submitted questions, comments and concerns.

Once the diagnostic criteria is revised, the final draft of DSM-V will be submitted to the APA's Council on Research, Assembly and Board of Trustees for review and approval. A release of the final, approved DSM-V is expected in 2012. "Our ultimate goal is to have a manual that is based on the best available science and that is useful in a clinical setting," Kupfer said.

According to the APA, the task force and work group members on the DSM include "individuals who address cross-cutting issues such as differences in the expression of mental disorders by developmental stages across the lifespan, by gender, by culture and with different levels of impairment and disability."

The release of DSM-V in 2012 is expected to be accompanied by a range of clinical assessment and training aids and an infrastructure to accommodate continuous updates of diagnostic criteria.

Adapted from a press release by the APA.