[DSM-5: a young Kraepelin and the "schizoaffective disorder" oxymoron]

Vertex. 2013 Mar-Apr;24(108):155-7.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

The last several years have witnessed the accumulation of evidence suggesting that the Kraepelinian binary system of classification of the psychoses does not capture their true nature, as Kraepelin himself had cautioned in his late years. The long-awaited new edition of the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual will in all probability incorporate symptom dimensions and suppress schizophrenia subtypes. However, the initial Kraepelinian conceptualization of the psychoses is maintained, along with the diagnostic category that epitomizes its obsolescence: schizoaffective disorder. We hereby make a brief critical appraisal of this fact, pointing out how the current classification system might be an obstacle to much-needed advances in this knowledge field.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders*
  • Humans
  • Psychotic Disorders / diagnosis*