The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is used by clinicians and psychiatrists to diagnose psychiatric illnesses.
The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association and covers all categories of mental health disorders for both adults and children.
The manual is non-theoretical and focused mostly on describing symptoms as well as statistics concerning which gender is most affected by the illness, the typical age of onset, the effects of treatment, and common treatment approaches.
The current version of the DSM is the fifth edition, DSM-5, published in May 2013.
The other major diagnostic manual is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) which is published by the World Health Organisation.
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This glossary is designed to explain some of the jargon and gobbledygook used by some people when they talk about autism or research..
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