Dr. Alan Schatzberg, outgoing president of the APA, praised the ongoing efforts to revise the DSM as a “major, major effort that the APA undertakes.”
Although the process is painstaking, he said it is necessary to insure that the document is reliable and relevant to a wide range of professionals who depend on it to provide a common diagnostic language that evolves in tandem with burgeoning understanding of mental illnesses.
“It's a labor of love,” said Dr. Schatzberg, professor and chair of psychiatry at Stanford (Calif.) University.
Neither Dr. Kupfer nor Dr. Schatzberg reported any relevant financial conflicts of interest with regard to the DSM-5.