Dimensional Approaches in Diagnostic Classification

Nothing less than the future of psychiatric diagnosis is at stake as the American Psychiatric Association undertakes the process of research, evaluation, and analysis that will eventuate in publication of DSM-V in 2012. This new collection, Dimensional Approaches in Diagnostic Classification: Refining the Research Agenda for DSM-V, transcends the current categorical definitions set forth in DSM-III and DSM IV and suggests ways of incorporating more quantitative concepts into DSM-V.

The proceedings of a conference convened by the APA, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the book explores a dimensional approach to diagnosing substance dependence, major depressive episode, psychosis, anxiety disorders, developmental psychopathology, and personality disorders. The authors present a critical appraisal of dimensional approaches in diagnostic classification and an examination of categories and dimensions in clinical and research contexts.

Clinicians and researchers in the United States and the international psychiatric community will discover, in these pages, the beginnings of a new, quantitative methodology that will transform diagnosis and represents the next stage in the evolution of DSM.

John E. Helzer, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Health Behavior Research Center at University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vermont.

Helena Chmura Kraemer, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Biostatistics in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Robert F. Krueger, Ph.D., is Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Personality, Individual Differences, and Behavior Genetics in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapo¬lis, Minnesota.

Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, Ph.D., is Director of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Technische Univer¬sität Dresden in Dresden, Germany.

Paul J. Sirovatka, M.S., was Director of Research Policy Analysis at the Division of Research and American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education at the American Psychiatric Association in Arlington, Virginia.

Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H., is Executive Director of the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education and Director of the Division of Research at the American Psychiatric Association in Arlington, Virginia.