Relatable, but dense. Pretty dull, too. No plot, characters were all very 2D, and there was a lot of telling, not showing. There was also no dialogue, which is something I look for in a good book. ( )

This is a great reference when dealing with mental health issues. This is the official diagnosis manual that lists the criteria that mental health professionals use.

Also titled:
- DSM-5
- DSM-V
- DSM five
- DSM
- Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

Summary: DSM-5 is used by health professionals, social workers, and forensic and legal specialists to diagnose and classify mental disorders. The criteria are concise and explicit, intended to facilitate an objective assessment of symptom presentations in a variety of clinical settings- inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, consultation-liaison, clinical, private practice, and primary care.

Contents: DSM-5 basics -- Introduction -- Use of the manual -- Cautionary statement for forensic use of DSM-5 -- Diagnostic criteria and codes -- Neurodevelopmental disorders -- Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders -- Bipolar and related disorders -- Depressive disorders -- Anxiety disorders -- Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders -- Trauma- and stressor-related disorders -- Dissociative disorders -- Somatic symptom and related disorders -- Feeding and eating disorders -- Elimination disorders -- Sleep-wake disorders -- Sexual dysfunctions -- Gender dysphoria -- Disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders -- Substance-related and addictive disorders -- Neurocognitive disorders -- Personality disorders -- Paraphilic disorders -- Other mental disorders -- Medication-induced movement disorders and other adverse effects of medication -- Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention -- Emerging measures and models -- Assessment measures -- Cultural formulation -- Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders -- Conditions for further study -- Appendix : Highlights of changes from DSM-IV to DSM-5 -- Glossary of technical terms -- Glossary of cultural concepts of distress -- Alphabetic listing of DSM-5 diagnoses and codes (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM) -- Numerical listing of DSM-5 diagnoses and codes (ICD-9-CM) -- Numerical listing of DSM-5 diagnoses and codes (ICD-10-CM) -- DSM-5 advisors and other contributors.

Notes:
- Includes index.
- Includes bibliographical references.

Former title:
Supersedes: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV. Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

Subject to alot of ridicule by laypersons, but when called the "Bible" for psychiatrists (again usually by laypersons) this is inaccurate. Most psychiatrists have objections to parts of it (sometimes to large parts of it), but its major use is as a dictionary with specific qualifiers. When one psychiatrist says a person has Major Depression, another psychiatrist knows that person's general symptoms, and the general severity of symptoms. That way we're all speaking the same approximate language.

Essential title. Samantha Roberts