In Developmental Disability

DSM for People with Developmental Disabilities

Posted by: on May 21, 2008 | 5 Comments

I recently attended a conference in San Jose hosted by UCLA’s TARJAN Center for Developmental disabilities entitled, Innovative Approaches: Treatment for People with Developmental Disabilities & Psychiatric Disorders. There I discovered that a new DSM specifically tailored to individuals with developmental disabilities is now available. The title is: The Diagnostic Manual- Intellectual Disability (DM-ID): A Textbook of Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability.

I have yet to read it, so I’m not sure exactly what the differences are between this book and the DSM-IV-TR. I’m hoping that one of my administrators will be acquiring it soon for the clinicians at Redwood Place.

I suppose the reason for this text is to help clinicians and psychiatrists tease through the symptom presentation that is found within the dually diagnosed DD and mentally ill population, who often present differently than people without DD. This begs the question: so…when are they going to come out with a DSM specifically geared towards children? As many professionals have noticed, children often present differently than adults, which is not reflected in the current DSM. Perhaps a DSM for children is in the works, and I haven’t heard about it, after all, to me, the DD DSM was a surprise.

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5 Comments

  1. University Update - UCLA - DSM for People with Developmental Disabilities
    May 21, 2008

    [...] State University DSM for People with Developmental Disabilities » This Summary is from an article posted at Elizabeth Beck – Art Therapy on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 [...]

  2. Darren Daz Cox
    May 21, 2008

    Hey Liz, what collage techniques do you use in your work?

  3. Liz
    May 22, 2008

    Hey Daz,

    I’m going to reply to this question in the form of a post.

  4. Christabell
    November 8, 2011

    How is art therapy used in DSM?

  5. Liz
    December 4, 2011

    Hi!

    I wrote a looong answer to your question a while back, and then it got deleted :( Sorry it’s taken me so long to rewrite it.

    Basically, art therapists use the DSM in the same way as other clinicians…as a guide to diagnose, an aid to conceptualize cases and a way of classifying what someone maybe experiencing in order to discuss their case coherently with others. The DSM does not discuss art therapy as a mode of treatment.

    I hope this helps to answer your question.

    Regards,
    - Liz

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