The DSM and child psychiatric nursing: a cautionary reflection

The DSM is the key reference guide for clinicians and it continues to be the way in which practitioners apply discrete categories to behaviors that are sufficiently disruptive to social institutions to have come to the attention of tertiary care systems. As a way to classify and diagnose mental disorders, the DSM has been a source of controversy in the psychiatric community since its development. This article reviews some of the limitations of the DSM approach to psychiatric nosology with respect to practice with children. Alternative conceptualizations and approaches to childhood psychopathology are proposed and implications for child psychiatric nurses are discussed.