OBJECTIVE Chest pain is a common presentation in the pediatric emergency department (PED). In the majority of cases, no clear medical cause is found. Among adults with noncardiac chest pain, psychopathology including panic disorder is common. We assessed the likelihood and type of psychopathology as well as the health status of children and adolescents with unexplained chest pain who presented ...

OBJECTIVES The objective of the study was to investigate the incidence rate of postpartum-onset major depression (PPMD) and to examine associated sociodemographic characteristics, obstetric factors, and personality disorders. METHOD The study data were obtained from 302 women who delivered at a child and maternity hospital. We interviewed the new mothers on the first day of their childbirth a...

The task of seeking alternatives to a classification system such as DSM-II that will maximize its benefits and minimize its limitation is a complex and arduous one. There are no clear-cut answers. Certain issues had been elaborated on here. The task at hand is one that must be approached on a multiprofessional basis seeking to integrate a variety of theoretical bases into a functional conceptua...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that may develop following exposure to a traumatic event. According to the 4th edition of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR,”1 the essential feature of PTSD is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to a traumatic stressor. PTSD is characterized by three core symptom clusters: (1...

The diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) (i.e., alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence) as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) were developed largely from research and clinical experience with adults. Little is known about the validity of these criteria when applied to adolescents. Recent epidemiological and clinical studie...

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed the diagnosis of "homosexuality" from the second edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). This resulted after comparing competing theories, those that pathologized homosexuality and those that viewed it as normal. In an effort to explain how that decision came about, this paper reviews some historical scientific theories...

Objective: the present study examined the clinical status of common childhood fears. Method: fears of the 290 children aged 8 to 13 years were assessed and then their severity was explored by means of a structured diagnostic interview measuring anxiety disorders according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Results: childhood fears re ̄ect signi®ca...

The heterogeneous clinical presentations of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) poses a significant challenge for sample characterization and limits the interpretability and replicability of research studies. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for ASD, with its dimensional approach, may be a useful framework to increa...

Changes have been made to the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and similar changes are likely in the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) due in 2017. In light of these changes, a new clinical disorder, social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD), was added to...