I’ve been seeing (and Retweeting) items on how the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) would not be using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) when its fifth edition is officially released in a few weeks. What NIMH means by this relates to a debate between different approaches to mental illness. The DSM embodies a symptom-based approach to diagnosing illnesses, and NIMH wants to see an approach based more on understanding the neural, cognitive and genetic components that may contribute to mental illness.
To that end, the Institute will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories to focus on research domains organized by systems (negative and positive valence systems, cognitive systems, arousal/modulation systems and systems for social processes). This approach, called Research Domain Criteria, is intended to develop a new classification system that takes advantage of research in genetics and neuroscience to try and find sub-types within broader demonstrated illness groups. If they can be found (as they have in other diseases), it could mean improved treatments and/or means of prevention. Research in other diseases has led to this kind of improvement, and it would be lovely if the same possibility could be realized for mental illnesses.
Of course, this approach is still in its infancy, and years of work will be needed before it can effectively contribute a new diagnostic system.
Pasco Phronesis 