Mount Sinai’s Dr. Martin Oversees Publication of DSM-5

Dr. Martin works closely with the DSM-5 Task Force, other review committees, and the Board of Trustees of the APA which will ultimately approve the manual

Glenn Martin, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Dean for Research, has been a leader in the development of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, commonly known as the DSM-5. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is expected to publish the highly anticipated manual in May 2013.

Psychiatrists have relied on the DSM to diagnose and treat patients for sixty years. Regarded as the most important publication in the mental health field, the DSM provides a common language and standardized criteria that psychiatrists use to communicate clinical information. For several years, members of the DSM-5 Task Force and Work Groups have been revising and updating the DSM to reflect the scientific and clinical advancements that have been made since it was last updated twelve years ago.

Dr. Martin serves as chair of the Assembly Committee on DSM-5 — a deliberative body of the APA that represents its membership. The members of the committee are from different areas in the US, have varying clinical expertise, and practice psychiatry in different environments such as private offices, hospitals, and integrated care settings. The members review and propose edits to the draft versions of the diagnosis criteria and the supporting text. As the committee’s representative, Dr. Martin works closely with the DSM-5 Task Force, other review committees, and the Board of Trustees of the APA which will ultimately approve the manual.

“The goal of the new DSM-5 is to provide enhanced clinical utility for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals,” says Dr. Martin. “The changes that are made should have a positive impact on clinical practice including the diagnosis of patients, the treatments that are chosen, and ability to select the proper billable codes.”

The fifth edition has several changes from the previous manual. In the last decade, there have been significant discoveries made into the genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. DSM-5 will reflect these advancements and contain an extensive bibliography, which provides the supporting the science behind each diagnostic category. There has also been a concerted effort to coordinate the new edition with future versions of the International Classification of Diseases, making it easier to perform international collaborative research. Furthermore, for the first time, as part of the development of the DSM-5, the public, patients, families, advocates, and other professionals were invited to comment on the criteria as they were being drafted. Over 15,000 comments were received.

Dr. Martin joined Mount Sinai in 2000 and currently serves as Associate Director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Program for the Protection of Human Subjects. He is also Director of Medical Informatics at Queens Health Network and is President of the New York State Psychiatric Association.

For more information, visit dsm5.org and dsmfacts.org.