DSM-5Home / WhatisAutism? / Diagnosis / DSM-5TheAmericanPsychiatricAssociation’sDiagnosticandStatisticalManualofMentalDisorders,mostrecentlyreleasedasthe DSM-5in2013,isusedbymanyorganizations,individualsandgovernmenttodiagnosispsychiatricdisorderssuchasautism.TheDSM-5redefinedautism.Itspredecessor,theDSM-IV-TR,includedfive PervasiveDevelopmentalDisorders(PDDs):AutisticDisorder,Asperger’sDisorder,Rett’sDisorder,ChildhoodDisintegrativeDisorderandPervasiveDevelopmentalDisorderNotOtherwiseSpecified(PDD-NOS).Inthe DSM-5,AutisticDisorder,Asperger’sDisorderandPDD-NOSarereplacedbythediagnosisofAutismSpectrumDisorder.Additionally,theDSM-5alsoreducessocial-relatedelementsofautismintosocialcommunicationimpairmentandrepetitive/restrictedbehaviors,thoughthelabelsofAsperger’sandPDD-NOSarestillincommonuse.ThosewhoworkedontheDSM-5repeatedmanytimesthatnoonewhoalreadyhadadiagnosisofautismwillbeimpactedbythesechanges.However, itispossiblethatthegovernmentandotherprogramprovidersmightchoosetore-diagnosetheirbeneficiariesunderthenewdefinitiontodeterminewhethertheyarestillconsideredtobelivingwithautismforpurposesofreceivingservices.WeapplaudtheNationalInstituteofMentalHealthanditsdirectorDr.TomInsel,whohaschosennottoplacesomuchweightontheDSM-5diagnosiscategories.NIMHwillnotuseDSMcategoriesasthe“goldstandard”andwillbeginmovingawayfromanexclusivefocusonsymptom-basedcategories.TheAutismSocietystronglyurgeseverygovernmentunitandserviceprovidernottoreduceoreliminateservicestopeoplewhowerealreadygettingservices.Inaddition,weencouragethemtofullyunderstandandappreciatethatapersonwhomightnotbedefinedaslivingwithautismunderthenewDSM-5criteriamightstillneedahelpinghand. Share:ShareFacebookTwitterEmailOpenelementinlightboxOursiteusescookies.Thiswebsiteuses'cookies'togiveyouthebest,mostrelevantexperience.Usingthiswebsitemeansyou'reOkwiththis.IUnderstand