DSM-IV: Proposals for Revision of Diagnostic Criteria for Delirium

Abstract

This paper reviews the historical development of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. It presents some of the issues that the clinician has found difficult in applying DSM-III and DSM-III-R criteria for delirium. In addition it introduces some options for DSM-IV criteria for delirium based on several empirical studies. These options should be studied and debated carefully over the next year because in part, they represent radical departures from existing diagnostic criteria for delirium.