Christian Thomas Kelly

UWRT 1103
Mrs. Thomas
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C. American
Psychiatric Association, 1980. Print.
The DSM-III hones in on the idea that categorizing mental illness involves known or unknown
etiology, or commonly known as the cause of the specific illness. The vast majority of the
illnesses listed involve unknown etiologies. Advancements in attempting to identify the cause
have been made; however, such advancements are not enough to explain the exact cause. DSMIII focuses on the approach taken to explain the mental disorders as atheoretical, excluding
disorders such as Organic Mental Disorders and Adjustment Disorder which have sufficient
evidence to establish the cause. In conclusion, DSM-III argues that with further research, the
majority of the disorders with unknown causes will be found to have a specific cause, whether it
is biological, psychological, or social, or the combination of the three (Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders.)
The DSM-III was created by the American Psychiatric Association and has been revised and
developed over a period of five years. The main reasoning for an interest in such a document is
due to the fact that psychologists apply said information to a certain individual in order to
determine the illness they possess. Determining the exact illness offers a larger perspective
importance of diagnosis for both clinical practice and research. Another point of credibility of

the DSM-III lies in how such a vast document has expanded over the years, adding and/or
deleting certain mental disorders to create a more comprehensive piece (Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.)
Other quotes: A variety of theories have been advanced, buttressed by evidence- not always
convincing-to explain how these disorders come about.
For most of the DSM-III disorders, however, the etiology is unknown.
The approach taken in DSM-III is atheoretical with regard to etiology or pathophysiological
process except for those disorders for which this is well established and therefore included in the
definition of the disorder.
Analysis: This piece is fairly difficult to read. It is very much related to my inquiry question, as
this is the manual in which all known mental disorders are housed and described in detail. I
would not recommend this to someone working with the same inquiry question as this piece is
very biased and in my opinion, I do not agree with the statements. This document admits to the
fact that many etiologies are unknown, thus, assumptions are made about the cause and these
assumptions are unfounded with any research and evidence.