Framing Research on Culture in Psychiatric Diagnosis: The Case of the DSM-IV

The fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association 1994) treats the concept of culture as directly relevant to the diagnostic task. In contrast, its predecessor, the DSM-III-R, restricted its coverage to two paragraphs of the concept, cautioning that when the manual was used with clients from different cultural groups, cultural factors could interfere with diagnosis. I believe that the adequacy of the cultural insertions in the DSM-IV should be debated but I also believe that the changes will be considered important. The premise of this article is that they are important. The objective is to show that the cultural insertions in DSM-IV can be organized and focused on important issues of research.