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Lecture Notes

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM, is published by the American Psychiatric Association. The DSM is the standard worldwide resource for defining mental illness, and for determining which behaviors and desires are healthy and unhealthy.

 

In your text, the fourth-edition of the DSM is referenced. In May of 2013, the fifth edition of the DSM, known as the DSM-5, was printed. Regarding diagnoses and classifications for paraphilic disorder, there are no major revisions from the fourth edition to the fifth, just a few changes you should be aware of:

 

Most people with atypical sexual interests do not have a mental disorder. To be diagnosed with a paraphilic disorder, DSM-5 requires that people with these interests:

• feel personal distress about their interest, not merely distress resulting from society's disapproval;

-or-

• have a sexual desire or behavior that involves another person's psychological distress, injury, or

death, or a desire for sexual behaviors involving unwilling persons or persons unable to give legal

consent.

 

This is not very different from the criteria listed in the DSM-IV, just the addition of the personal distress not caused by societal views and the clarification of non-consensual partners and the interest to cause harm. <br /><br />To differentiate between the behavior itself and the disorder stemming from that behavior, the name now includes the word ‘disorder' in it. For example, Sexual Masochism in DSM-IV will be titled Sexual Masochism Disorder in DSM-5. Furthermore, the category was simply referred to as ‘paraphilias', as indicated in your text, but in the new DSM-5, the category is referred to as paraphilic disorders. This small, but significant change in the nomenclature is what we will use in this course.