This article is from the Depression FAQ, by Cynthia Frazier with numerous contributions by others.
Pamphlet: Depression: What you need to know, National Institute of Mental Heath. By Marilyn Sargent. Office of Scientific Information National Institute of Mental Health
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association. The latest version is the DSM-III-R (1987). For reference, the DSM-III was published in 1980. The first edition of this manual was published in 1952, and the second edition in 1968. The fourth edition (DSM-IV) is currently in press and should be available this summer. It is used by the vast majority of psychologists and mental health professionals in the United States of America as a diagnostic tool. Psychiatrists and professionals outside of the U.S. will often use a diagnostic system called ICD-9, which differs in many respects from the DSM.
 
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