For Immediate Release
Contact: Dottie Jeffries, American Psychoanalytic Association, phone: 212-752-0450, ext. 29
July 14, 2006
Psychoanalysts publish Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual
New York , NY -A Task Force representing the major national and international psychoanalytic Organizations is pleased to announce the publication of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, a complement to the Diagnostic andStatistical Manual of Mental Disorders typically used by psychiatrists, third party payers, and others in the healthcare field. The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual is a diagnostic framework that describes the whole person—both the deeper and surface levels of an individual’s personality as well as his/her emotional and social functioning.
This framework opens the door to improvements in diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders and to a fuller understanding of the functioning of the mind and brain and their development. The goal of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual is to complement the efforts of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Disorders' over the past 30 years in cataloguing symptoms and behaviors.
The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual is based on current neuroscience and treatment outcome studies that demonstrate the importance of focusing on the full range and depth of emotional and social functioning. For example, research on the mind and brain and their development shows that the patterns of emotional, social, and behavioral functioning involve many interconnected areas working together, rather than in isolation.
Treatment outcome studies, which are discussed in the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual’s research section, point to the importance of dealing with the full complexity of emotional and social patterns.
The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual adds a needed perspective to existing diagnostic systems. In addition to considering symptom patterns described in these systems, the manual enables clinicians to describe and categorize personality patterns, related social and emotional capacities, unique mental profiles, and personalized experiences of symptoms. The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual also provides a framework for improving comprehensive treatment approaches and understanding both the biological and psychological origins of mental health and illness.
The development of the manual has been prompted by recent research dealing the evaluation of a range of treatment modalities in mental health care. For example, the work of Drew Westen, Ph.D., a noted psychologist and researcher at Emory University, and his colleagues demonstrates that treatments focusing on isolated symptoms or behaviors (only one part of the mind and brain), rather than larger personality and social and emotional patterns, are not effective in sustaining even narrow behavioral or symptomatic change and do not address more complex personality patterns.
The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual has been created though a collaborative effort of the major organizations representing mental health professionals concerned with in-depth approaches to emotional, social, and behavioral functioning. These organizations are: the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Psychoanalytical Association, Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, and the National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, Inc.
The diagnostic framework formulated by the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual work groups systematically describes:
The Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (ISBN 0-9767758-2-4 [paper]; ISBN 0-9767758-1-6 [cloth]), with 600 pages and sized 7" x 10” was published by the Alliance of Psychoanalytic Organizations, comprised of the sponsoring organizations in May 2006. Individual orders may be placed at http://www.pdm1.org.
Retailers may contact the distributor, IPG Books, Inc., at 800-888-4741; or visit http://www.ipgbook.com/showbook.cfm?bookid=0976775824&userid=E939FE1F-803F-2B7A-70D65C6C7DD064E5
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