SAN FRANCISCO — The next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) will be renamed as the Diagnostic and Scientific Manual of Mental Disorders as part of a broader effort to strengthen its scientific foundation and transform it into a continuously updated, AI-enabled resource.

The changes reflect a broader effort to modernize the DSM by incorporating advances in neuroscience, genetics, and other areas of psychiatric research while making the manual more responsive to emerging evidence.

Members of the Future DSM Strategic Committee said during several presentations at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2026 Annual Meeting that the manual will be renamed as the Diagnostic and Scientific Manual of Mental Disorders, replacing “Statistical” with “Scientific” to better reflect its growing emphasis on evidence-based science.

Since the committee first outlined its vision for the revised manual last year, four new subcommittees have been created to focus on education and dissemination, research and methodology, the clinical, legal, and social implications of DSM revisions, and development of a continuously updated “living document.”

“We want to make sure to integrate all of these different elements, and we think that AI will be critical in helping us overcome some of the barriers” to putting out the manual in a timely and streamlined manner, Maria Oquendo, MD, chair in the Strategic Committee, told meeting attendees.

Oquendo added that the members are also working to define terms and classifications more clearly.

“Especially when it comes to structure and dimensions, we want to flesh things out about how all of this will work in real life and how it will be useful,” Oquendo, head of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Medscape Medical News.

‘Not a Bible’

Although the next manual will be titled the Diagnostic and Scientific Manual of Mental Disorders, committee members have not yet decided whether it will be designated DSM-6 or retain a different naming convention.

The first edition of the manual, DSM-I, was published in 1952. The most recent full edition, DSM fifth edition (DSM-5), was released in 2013 after a decade of development, followed by the DSM-5 Text Revision in 2022.

Established in March 2024, the Strategic Committee was charged with evaluating potential changes to the DSM’s structure, definitions, and diagnostic criteria. It first presented its vision at the 2025 APA Annual Meeting, with a more detailed update published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in January of this year.

Every edition of the DSM has generated controversy, and committee members devoted one session at this year’s meeting to address some of the longstanding criticisms of the manual.

Criticisms of the DSM have included its lack of a theoretical foundation, an emphasis on reliability over validity, and the absence of neuroscientific measures such as biomarkers and genomics, noted Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD, vice chair in the Strategic Committee, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York.

In the same session, committee member Dost Öngür, MD, PhD, of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, said the DSM has long been regarded as the “Bible of psychiatry,” creating expectations that can ultimately lead to disappointment and disillusionment.

Öngür argued that unrealistic expectations have contributed to criticism of the DSM. “At best it’s a dictionary, not a Bible, and there shouldn’t be a fall from grace” if it doesn’t provide all things to all people, he said.

Shaping the Future of DSM

The committee’s major goals include enhancing clinical judgment through more comprehensive case formulation, supporting whole person care, promoting interdisciplinary communication through a common diagnostic language, and better reflecting both the dimensional and categorical nature of psychiatric disorders.

The committee also wants to advance precision psychiatry by incorporating biomarkers, digital phenotyping, and other data into future editions of the DSM.

“We want to communicate unequivocably that we know biology is important in the manifestation of illnesses. It might not be causal, but we want to be sure and include the environment and biology and, most important, their interaction as key determinants,” Oquendo said.

Among the newly formed subcommittees, the research and methodology group will oversee future field trials. Another will examine the clinical, legal, and social implications of DSM revisions, including their impact on healthcare financing and insurance coverage.

Another new subcommittee will focus on strategies for transforming the DSM into a living document, allowing updates to be made more regularly as new evidence emerges. However, Alpert emphasized that the goal is not frequent revisions but timely, purposeful updates when the evidence warrants them.

To that end, the Strategic Committee believes AI, under APA oversight, will help support the DSM as a living document. Oquendo emphasized the importance of embracing modern technologies to keep pace with emerging evidence.

“In medical records and in clinical settings, AI is already being used — not only to support clinical decision-making but also for documentation purposes,” she said.

Nitin Gogtay, MD, vice chair in the Strategic Committee and deputy medical director and vice president in the Division of Research at the APA added that collaboration and discussions will be paramount throughout the development process.

The committee also plans an extensive outreach campaign, presenting its vision to mental health organizations around the world and gathering feedback before moving forward. About 20 focus groups are planned, and two additional white papers are expected in the coming months, he said.

The committee has also launched a survey inviting researchers and clinicians to nominate candidate biomarkers and is soliciting broader feedback via DSM5@psych.org.