Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:463-467
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
DSM-IV: a nosology sold before its time?
M Zimmerman, VC Jampala, FS Sierles and MA Taylor
Medical College of Pennsylvania Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia 19428.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether American
psychiatrists believe that DSM-IV is being published too soon after DSM-
III-R. METHOD: The authors conducted a mail survey of the attitudes of
practicing psychiatrists (N = 454), residency program directors (N = 128),
residents (N = 1,331), and researchers (N = 196) toward the scheduled
publication of DSM-IV in the early 1990s. RESULTS: They found that the
majority of all four groups believed that DSM-IV is being published
prematurely. In contrast to respondents who believed that the timing of
DSM-IV is appropriate, those who indicated that it is being published too
soon had more recently completed their residency training and also believed
that DSM-III-R was published prematurely. There was no association between
the psychiatrists' responses and their theoretical orientation, Board
certification status, ownership of the DSM manuals, the length of time they
had used DSM-III, and the diagnostic manual (DSM-III or DSM-III-R) they
were currently using. CONCLUSIONS: The belief that DSM-IV is being
published too soon could contribute to underuse of DSM-IV by substantial
numbers of psychiatrists. Thus, to foster compliance with it, APA must
preserve in its efforts to demonstrate that the advantages of publishing it
in 1993 outweigh the disadvantages of adopting yet another manual.
