DSM-5: New Opportunities and Challenges for Teaching and Training

Abstract

The development of the DSM-5 over the past decade included a systematic review of the major scientific and methodological advances made in the last two decades. The organizational chapter structure for the DSM has been reorganized to facilitate both clinical practice and teaching to improve assessment skills and at the same time, appreciate how to incorporate new knowledge not ready to be specified as diagnostic criteria. More specifically, we anticipate that we will have a structure that contains “receptors” for new biological, neurocognitive, and environmental risk factors as they emerge to guide future research and clinical practice. The emphasis in the manual on the medical psychiatric interface is of particular relevance for residency education. In addition to the didactic and practical import of the content of DSM-5, increased attention is being given to the new communication technology that makes it possible for the emergence of electronic versions and various types of “apps.”