American Psychiatric Press Description: The Task Force produced this brief outline on the criteria to be included in
DSM-IV for study and comparison with DSM-III-R. It is intended to facilitate the
process of revising DSM-III-R which may take several years. As such it is a
provisional work in progress and should not be used for anything else. Discussion: More than 1000 people assisted in the preparation of these draft criterion revisions. There were 13 work groups that conducted several meetings, extensive literature reviews, reanalyses of available data sets, and focused field trials that included over 6000 subjects. The goal of this considerable effort is to improve the reliability and utility of psychiatric diagnoses. Also the effort included making DSM-IV and ICD-10 more compatible and reducing confusion between the two nosologies. Whether the effort has produced a system that indeed is more reliable and overcomes some of the weaknesses in earlier nosologies, remains to be seen. The volume itself describes the fundamental problem in the brief discussion on using the term "mental disorder." It is acknowledged that this term reflects an outdated dualism but there is nothing better to replace it, so the error involved is continued. Nevertheless, anyone concerned with increasing the accuracy of the diagnostic process should use this draft to study what is coming and begin to be prepared to use DSM-IV as accurately as possible. Reviewed by Ralph Underwager, Institute for Psychological Therapies, Northfield, Minnesota.
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