Department of Biostatistics Seminar/Workshop Series

What did/does/will "Statistical" mean in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V)?

Helena Chmura Kraemer, Ph.D.

Professor of Biostatistics in Psychiatry (Emerita)
Stanford University

Wednesday, May 13, 1:30-2:55pm, MRBIII Conference Room 1220

Intended Audience: Persons interested in applied statistics, statistical theory, epidemiology, health services research, clinical trials methodology, statistical computing, statistical graphics, R users or potential users

DSM is the accepted standard of psychiatric diagnosis, particularly in the US, currently undergoing the revision to be called DSM-V. The inclusion of the term “statistical” in the titles of DSM-I and DSM-II reflected only the fact that the original intent was to develop a classification in order to count cases, not that any statisticians were involved. However, with DSM-III, statistical considerations, particularly those associated with methods to establish reliability and perhaps validity, began to influence DSM. In DSM-IV, meta-analysis came into play. The first conference in preparation for DSM-V revisions focused completely on statistical issues. Dr. Kraemer was a consultant for DSM-IV and is on the Task Force for DSM V, and will discuss directions and influences that biostatistical considerations may have in the DSM future.

Presenter Information