Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Critiques of

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association and highly influential in the organization, administration, and assessment of research and treatment in mental health in the United States and internationally, has been and continues to be the subject of diverse critiques and controversies. Gender and sexuality have been central to several such debates.

Critiques may address the DSM broadly or present or proposed elements specifically, and may address content, creation, organization, and use. Critiques of the DSM centrally concerned with scientific method question its construct validity and reliability. Critics may argue that inclusion in the DSM pathologizes and medicalizes patterns of feelings or behaviors which are or could be normal, expected, benign, or even healthy, ...