<P> The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and offers a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders . It is used, or relied upon, by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the legal system, and policy makers together with alternatives such as the ICD - 10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, produced by the WHO . </P> <P> The DSM is now in its fifth edition, the DSM - 5, published on May 18, 2013 . The DSM evolved from systems for collecting census and psychiatric hospital statistics, and from a United States Army manual . Revisions since its first publication in 1952 have incrementally added to the total number of mental disorders, although also removing those no longer considered to be mental disorders . </P>

The main criticism of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm) is that it