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What Does Phenomenology Contribute to the Debate About DSM-5?

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Making the DSM-5

Abstract

We trace the history of the neo-Kraepelinian revolution which led to the publication of DSM-III. It is frequently overlooked that beginning with DSM-III there is a decided conflict between what is useful for clinicians and researchers. The conflict has more to do with the built-in research agenda of the DSMs introduced by and following DSM-III than with the nature of either clinical practice or research. We propose some fruitful ways for the two to work together. This requires incorporating a phenomenological approach to diagnosis and clinical research. With the centennial for the publication of the first edition of Jaspers “General Psychopathology” being celebrated the same year as appearance of DSM-5, it is surprising that little attention has been directed to the obvious dearth of phenomenology in the DSMs since DSM-III in 1980, and discussion about the relevance of phenomenology to current conceptual problems and controversies facing DSM-5. We propose ways that a fine-grained phenomenology suggestively cuts across the DSM-5 clusters indicating that phenomenology with its limited set of intersecting experiential dimensions—when practiced rigorously with fine-grained attention to patient experience—may lead to different hypotheses and results than the current thinking supporting DSM-5. In doing so, it heals the current artificial schism between top-down and bottom-up approaches to diagnostic classification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, Sofia University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Aaron L. Mishara

  2. Departments of Psychiatry and Humanities in Medicine, Texas A & M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Round Rock, TX, USA

    Michael A. Schwartz

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  1. Aaron L. Mishara
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Correspondence to Aaron L. Mishara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jewish General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Sir Mortimer B. Davis, Côte Ste. Catherine Road 4333, Montreal, H3T1E4, Québec, Canada

    Joel Paris

  2. , Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, Noble Avenue 88, New Haven, 06460, Connecticut, USA

    James Phillips

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Mishara, A.L., Schwartz, M.A. (2013). What Does Phenomenology Contribute to the Debate About DSM-5?. In: Paris, J., Phillips, J. (eds) Making the DSM-5. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6504-1_9

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