On this episode of Sanity, Dr. Jason Duncan and Dr. Jonathan Abramowitz discuss the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM. The DSM is widely used by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals to not only diagnose individuals with mental health disorders, but also to submit codes for insurance reimbursement for those receiving treatment. As important as it is, there are some major flaws with its structure. Dr. Abramowitz takes a deep dive into some of the major flaws of this classification system, including the lack of an underlying theory and issues with reliability and validity. Multiple examples of the current issues with the DSM are applied to clinical situations, and Dr. Abramowitz begins to discuss solutions to these problems. Tune in to learn more about the DSM, and continue listening to Episode 2 on specifically improving the DSM for anxiety and OCD!

Dr. Abramowitz is a Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the OCD and Anxiety Disorders Clinic. He is an internationally recognized leader in the treatment of OCD and anxiety disorders and has published over 300 books and scientific articles in these areas. He is a Past President of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the founding Editor of the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (JOCRD).

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Twitter: @drjonabram