The DSM-5 Sleep Disorders workgroup has been especially busy. They are calling for a nearly complete overhaul of the sleep disorders category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (“DSM”).
According to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May, Charles Reynolds, MD, suggested that the reworking of this category will make sleep problems easier for professionals to diagnose and discriminate between different sleep disorders.
He stated that the current DSM-IV puts too much emphasis on presumed causes of symptoms, something that the rest of the DSM-IV does not do. Bringing the sleep disorder section more in line with the other sections in the DSM should make it less confusing.
Primary and commonly diagnosed sleep disorders are being organized in the DSM-5 into three major categories: insomnia, hypersomnia and arousal disorder. The new DSM will allow professionals to choose amongst sub-types in each category, as can be done with many other major disorders in the manual.
Here’s a summary of some of the proposed additions and changes in the sleep disorders category for the DSM-5, slated for publication in May 2013.