The history of nosology and the rise of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Abstract

The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 arose from a tradition filled with haphazard science and politically driven choices. The nosology of modern psychiatry began with the German classifiers of the late 19th century, especially Emil Kraepelin. Psychoanalysis then blotted out the classificatory vision for the next half-century, and most of this European psychopathological science failed to cross the Atlantic. The DSM series was a homegrown American product, beginning with Medical 203 in 1945, then guided by psychoanalytic insights through DSM-I in 1952 and DSM-II in 1968. In 1980, DSM-III represented a massive “turning of the page” in nosology, and it had the effect of steering psychoanalysis toward the exit in psychiatry and the beginning of a reconciliation of psychiatry with the rest of medicine. With the advent of DSM-5, however, questions are starting to be asked about whether this massive venture is on the right track.