DM-ID-2

NADD has begun work on the revision of its seminal Diagnostic Manual – Intellectual Disability (DM-ID).

In 2007, NADD, in association with the American Psychiatric Association (APA), published Diagnostic Manual—Intellectual Disability (DM-ID).  The DM-ID is a companion to and adaptation of the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) for use with individuals who have an intellectual/developmental (IDD) disability co-occurring with mental illness (MI).  The goal of the DM-ID was to provide more accurate psychiatric diagnoses for individuals with IDD/MI.  The DM-ID has been very well accepted and is considered the “gold standard” for diagnosing psychiatric disorders in individuals with IDD

The DSM is used by mental health professionals to diagnose psychiatric disorders.  Among the information it includes is a list of the symptoms (criteria) that must be present in order to diagnose an individual with a particular psychiatric disorder.  Generally the mental health professional will determine the presence or absence of these symptoms through what the patient states in terms of feelings, experiences, and symptoms.  However, individuals with IDD usually have limited verbal ability and may lack the ability to describe their internal state.  Also, various psychiatric disorders manifest differently in individuals with IDD from the way they manifest in non-disabled individuals.  The DM-ID describes these differences and provides information about how to make an accurate psychiatric diagnosis in an individual with IDD without needing to rely on the individuals self-report.  The importance of this is that a more accurate psychiatric diagnosis will lead to more appropriate treatment, which will, in turn, lead to improved quality of life for the individual with IDD co-occurring with mental illness.  Peer-reviewed, published research clearly indicates the clinical utility of the DM-ID.  For further information about the DM-ID you may visit the DM-ID website.

The APA will be releasing a revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in May (DSM-5).  With the release of the DSM-5 it becomes important that the DM-ID be revised to correspond the DSM-5 and to incorporate the changes in the DSM-5.  There are many changes and revisions planned in this edition.  It will be important to incorporate these changes into a future volume of the DM-ID to insure the most accurate psychiatric diagnoses for individuals with IDD.

NADD has embarked on a multi-year project to revise the DM-ID to correspond to the DSM-5. Dr. Robert Fletcher will be Chief Editor, and Dr. Sally-Ann Cooper and Dr. Jarrett Barnhill will be Co-Editors.  NADD will again use an expert-consensus model, with work groups of 4-8 experts for each of 22 diagnostic categories.  The DM-ID-2 will use the same diagnostic categories identified in the DSM-5.