Practice Alert
May 2013
Mirean Coleman, LICSW, CT
Senior Practice Associate
DSM-5 IS COMING
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, (DSM-5) will be released this May at the annual conference of the American Psychiatric Association in San Francisco, California.  It is a guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders for health care professionals throughout the world. This is the first full revision of the DSM since 1994 when the DSM-IV was released. Clinical social workers use the DSM to diagnose disorders affecting moods, identity, personality, and among other things, cognition.Â
NASW is participating in an invitational only DSM-5 training at the annual American Psychiatric Association Conference and will use this special training to assist members in transitioning from the DSM-IV to the DSM-5. NASW is also planning a series of training for its members which will include workshops, Webinars, teleconferences, question and answer sessions, and practice updates. A schedule of trainings will be announced online soon. In the meantime, clinical social workers should be aware that changes in diagnoses codes may not occur until October 1, 2014. Â