APA Names DSM-V Task Force Members - Leading Experts To Revise Handbook For Diagnosing Mental Disorders, USA

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 25 Jul 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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At a teleconference news briefing, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced the task force that will oversee the development of the fifth edition of APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). The DSM is the handbook used by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in the United States as well as other countries around the world to diagnose and classify mental disorders. The DSM-V Task Force consists of 27 members, including a chair and vice chair, who collectively represent research scientists from psychiatry and other disciplines, clinical care providers, and consumer and family advocates.

"As the nation's dictionary of mental illnesses, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual plays a vital role in assuring that patients get proper diagnoses and treatments for their mental health concerns," said David J. Kupfer, M.D., chair of the DSM-V Task Force. "The APA has entrusted the revision of the DSM to world-renowned scientists who have vast experience in research, clinical care, biology, genetics, statistics, epidemiology, public health and consumer advocacy. They have interests ranging from cross-cultural medicine and genetics to geriatric issues, ethics and addiction."

At least 20 task force members have had a history of involvement with the National Institutes of Health. For example, two task force members are currently division directors at the National Institute of Mental Health, and one is a section chief. Another member is a division director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and one is an associate director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Moreover, at least six members have worked extensively with the World Health Organization.

As a group, task force members have authored over 2,500 research reports, books, chapters, white papers and journal articles. At least nine task force members are editors or on the editorial boards of major medical journals, including the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Annual Review of Neuroscience, the Archives of General Psychiatry, the International Journal of Eating Disorders, Schizophrenia Bulletin and Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

More than half of the task force members are either distinguished life fellows or distinguished fellows of the American Psychiatric Association, meaning that before joining the DSM-V Task Force, they were judged by their peers to have made significant and outstanding contributions to the field of psychiatry.

The DSM-V Task Force members are:

- David J. Kupfer, M.D., chair, DSM-V Task Force
- Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H., vice chair, DSM-V Task Force
- William Narrow, M.D., M.P.H., research director,DSM-V Task Force
- Maritza Rubio-Stipec, Sc.D., statistics and methods director, DSM-V Task Force
- William T. Carpenter Jr., M.D., chair, Psychosis Work Group
- Francisco Xavier Castellanos, M.D., chair, Externalizing Disorders Work Group
- Wilson M. Compton, M.D., M.P.E.
- Joel E. Dimsdale, M.D., chair, Somatoform Disorders Work Group
- Javier Escobar, M.D., M.Sc.
- Jan Fawcett, M.D., chair, Mood Disorders Work Group
- Steven E. Hyman, M.D., rapporteur, Spectra Study Group
- Dilip Jeste, M.D., chair, Dementia, Delirium, & Amnestic and Other Cognitive Disorders Work Group; rapporteur, Psychiatric/General Medical Interface Study Group
- Helena C. Kraemer, Ph.D.
- Daniel T. Mamah, M.D., M.P.E.
- James McNulty, A.B., Sc.B.
- Howard B. Moss, M.D.
- Charles O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Substance-Related Disorders Work Group
- Roger Peele, M.D.
- Katherine A. Phillips, M.D., chair, Anxiety Disorders Work Group
- Daniel Pine, M.D., chair, Childhood/Adolescent Disorders Work Group; rapporteur, Developmental Study Group
- Charles F. Reynolds III, M.D., chair, Sleep Disorders Work Group
- Andrew E. Skodol II, M.D., chair, Personality Disorders Work Group
- Susan Swedo, M.D., chair, Autism & Other PDD Work Group
- B. Timothy Walsh, M.D., chair, Eating Disorders Work Group
- Philip Wang, M.D., Dr. P.H.
- William Womack, M.D.
- Kimberly A. Yonkers, M.D., rapporteur, Gender & Cross-Cultural Study Group

The APA Board of Trustees required that all task force nominees disclose any competing interests or potentially conflicting relationships with entities that have an interest in psychiatric diagnoses and treatments as a precondition to appointment to the task force. In addition, all task force members have agreed that, for calendar year 2007 and continuing for the duration of each individual member's work on the DSM-V Task Force, the member's total annual income derived from industry sources (excluding unrestricted research grants) will not exceed $10,000 in any calendar year.

Of the 27 task force members, eight had no relationship with industry and 19 disclosed relationships with industry during any of the 36 months leading up to their nomination. The APA made all task force members' disclosures available during the announcement of the task force. Several otherwise highly qualified individuals were ruled ineligible for task force appointments due to their competing interests.

"The APA Board of Trustees established limits on relationships with industry that are more stringent than federal agency limits," said APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D. "What makes the DSM powerful is its value in clinical practice. Patients deserve a diagnostic manual based upon the latest science and free of conflicts of interest."

Revision of the DSM will continue over the next five years. Future announcements will include naming the workgroups on specific categories of disorders and their research-based recommendations on updating various disorders and definitions. DSM-V is scheduled to be published in 2012. The current edition of the manual, the DSM-IV-TR, was issued in 2000 and is a text revision of DSM-IV, which was issued in 1994. (Text revision means that only explanatory text was updated; diagnostic criteria have not been modified since DSM-IV in 1994, nor have any disorders been added to DSM since then.)

The DSM-V Task Force chair and vice chair were previously announced in April 2006, naming David J. Kupfer, M.D., and Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H., respectively.

Additional information on the DSM-V revision is available at http://www.dsmv.org.

About the American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose more than 38,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at http://www.psych.org and http://www.HealthyMinds.org.

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