ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a critical consideration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It considers historic and contemporary controversies relating to specific disorders within the DSM and discusses the extent to which the diagnostic categories within the DSM are valid and reliable. The contrast in approaches sanctioned at different times by the DSM is exemplified in the 1972 case report of a 41-year-old accountant who presented with headaches, fear, anxiety and an inability to perform sexually with his new wife. The DSM is derived from Western philosophical traditions of dualism and neglects holistic ideas where mental disorders are viewed as affecting mental, physical, religious and spiritual states. Considerable debate occurred at the American Psychiatric Association meeting, and the board of trustees approved a change in focus and terminology for homosexuality in the sixth printing of the DSM II.
