[Unresolved issues in the DSM-5]

This paper analyses the criticism prompted by the publication of the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), which was already foreseen to a certain extent during the final stages of its drafting. Part of the criticism has focused on the changes in the diagnostic criteria for certain disorders and the incorporation of new entities into the DSM. Another line of criticism, however, is aimed at the lack of diagnostic validity of the DSM, which has led to its efficiency in the research field being questioned. The basic underlying flaw in the DSM is the incoherence of a model based on a wide range of definitions of categorical entities, all of which have a high element of comorbidity. As a proposal to overcome the blockage generated in research and the scarcity of therapeutic advances, the US National Institute of Mental Health has put forward a research strategy based on identifying and studying the fundamental dimensions of the dysfunctions that present transversally in mental disorders.