The DSM is the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The latest edition is DSM-5-TR (Fifth Edition, Text Revision), published in 2022.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)* describes recognized mental disorders. It specifies symptoms and other criteria for clinicians to evaluate in order to decide on a diagnosis and organizes these diagnoses together into a classification system.

It is the handbook used by health care professionals in the United States and much of the world as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. It provides a common language for health care professionals who diagnose mental illness and establishes consistent and reliable diagnoses that can be used in research and to aid in the development of medications and other interventions.

DSM serves as a tool for defining and diagnosing mental disorders in a variety of settings, including clinics, private practice, schools, hospitals, courtrooms, and the insurance industry. Psychiatrists, psychologists, other mental health care professionals, other physicians, nurses, lawyers, and social workers use DSM as a clinical guide.

DSM Overview

The information on mental disorders in DSM consists of three major components: diagnostic classification, diagnostic criteria sets and descriptive text.

• Diagnostic Classification: The diagnostic classification is the official categorization of mental disorders recognized in DSM. Each diagnosis includes a diagnostic code, which is typically used by individual providers, institutions, and agencies for billing and collecting data.
• Diagnostic Criteria: Each disorder in DSM includes a set of diagnostic criteria with symptoms for clinicians to evaluate. It also includes a list of other conditions to potentially rule out to qualify for a particular diagnosis. It is important to note that these criteria are meant to be evaluated by trained professionals. 
• Descriptive Text: Descriptive text accompanies each DSM disorder. The descriptions include information on symptoms, associated features, prevalence, how the disorder develops and progresses, risk factors, culture-related diagnostic issues, impact on daily functioning, and more.

DSM does NOT include information about treatments. It is a manual for assessment and diagnosis of mental disorders and does not include information or guidelines for treatment of any disorder.

The DSM is published by American Psychiatric Association (APA), the organization representing more than 39,200 psychiatrists (medical doctors who treat mental disorders). DSM-5-TR and related publications are available at APA Publishing - DSM.

How DSM-5-TR Was Developed

The latest edition of the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), was published in 2022, nine years after publication of DSM-5.

DSM-5-TR includes revised text and new references, clarifications to diagnostic criteria. DSM-5-TR updates the text to incorporate new research findings that have appeared since DSM-5 was published in 2013. It also includes one new diagnosis, prolonged grief disorder.

After the publication of DSM-5, the APA established a new process for revisions. Proposals for changes—including addition and deletion of diagnostic categories—could be made whenever data become available to support these changes. Criteria for consideration of proposals and a multistage review process were established, and a DSM-5 Steering Committee was created to develop and oversee revisions of the DSM. Five review committees were also established, each with responsibility for a broad category of mental disorders.

The mental health field was invited to submit proposals for changes to the DSM, including additions, deletions, and modifications of diagnostic categories, through a web portal opened in 2017. Criteria were developed for the data needed for each proposal to demonstrate the validity, reliability, and clinical utility of the suggested revision. Each proposal was assessed by one of the Review Committees and the Steering Committee, opened to public comment, and approved by the APA Board of Directors and APA Assembly before being incorporated into the DSM-5-TR.

The APA started work on DSM-5-TR in Spring 2019. More than 200 experts were involved in developing DSM-5-TR. They included experts in neuroscience, biology, genetics, statistics, epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, nosology, and public health. They encompassed medical and mental health disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, pediatrics, nursing, and social work. Four cross-cutting review groups (Culture, Sex and Gender, Suicide, and Forensic) reviewed all the chapters. A Work Group on Ethnoracial Equity and Inclusion focused on additional factors that could influence diagnosis such as bias, racism and/or discrimination and the use of non-stigmatizing language. The experts participated on a voluntary basis.

DSM-5-TR is the product of the following three separate revision processes, each one overseen by separate (but overlapping) groups of experts:

• The development of the original DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and text by the DSM-5 Task Force that was published in 2013.
• Updates to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and text, overseen by the DSM Steering Committee. 
• Full updates to the DSM-5 text that were overseen by the Revision Subcommittee.

The DSM decision makers fully disclose and are carefully vetted for conflicts of interest to eliminate actual or potential interest that could compromise of the objectivity of the content. (APA Disclosure of Affiliations and Interests Policy.)

DSM History: Development of DSM through DSM-5

In the United States, the need to collect statistical information drove the initial development of approaches to classification of mental disorders. For example, seven categories of mental disorders were included in the 1880 U.S. census. In 1921, a classification system was designed primarily for diagnosing people who were hospitalized with severe psychiatric and neurological disorders. After World War II, a much broader classification system was developed by the U.S. Army (and modified by the Veterans Administration). At the same time, mental disorders were included for the first time in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Disease (ICD-6). (See sidebar on ICD.)

In 1952, the APA Committee on Nomenclature and Statistics developed the first edition of DSM. DSM was the first official manual of mental disorders to focus on clinical use. It contained a glossary of descriptions of the diagnostic categories. In developing the second edition, DSM-II, a decision was made to base the classification on the mental disorders section of the ICD (ICD-8), for which representatives of APA had provided consultation. DSM-II and ICD-8 were published in 1968.

As had been the case for the DSM and DSM–II, the development of subsequent editions have been coordinated with the development of updated versions of the ICD. DSM–III, published in 1980, was developed with the goal of providing definitions of mental disorders for clinicians and researchers. DSM–III included explicit diagnostic criteria and a multiaxial diagnostic assessment system.

In 1987, revisions and corrections were published in DSM–III–R. After a six–year effort that involved more than 1,000 individuals and numerous professional organizations, DSM-IV was published in 1994. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature, numerous changes were made to the classification (e.g., disorders were added, deleted, and reorganized), to the diagnostic criteria sets, and to the descriptive text.

The work on DSM-5 began in 2000 and work groups generated hundreds of white papers, monographs, and journal articles. In 2007, APA established the DSM–5 Task Force and 13 disorder area work groups to begin revising the manual. DSM–5 was published in 2013. Work on the latest version, DSM-5-TR, began in 2019.