The next iteration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) will include significant changes, including more frequent updates, a greater focus on science, and perhaps even a new name, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced this week.

A roadmap unveiled in a series of papers published in The American Journal of Psychiatry describes plans to make the DSM a “truly living document” that is more responsive to new scientific developments than previous versions. 

At a press briefing, members of the APA’s Future DSM Strategic Committee also announced a proposal to change the manual’s name to the Diagnostic and Scientific Manual of Mental Disorders. Swapping the word “Statistical” in the long-standing title for the word “Scientific” better reflects a focus on the latest evidence-based, peer-reviewed science as it continues to evolve, they said.

“What we wanted to do was underscore that DSM is grounded in science first and foremost,” Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD, vice-chair of the strategic committee, told Medscape Medical News. 

However, there’s been no decision yet on whether the new manual would become a DSM-6 or even a new DSM-1 because of the new title.

“That will be determined going forward, and it’s why we’re using ‘Future DSM’ for our committee. We didn’t want to rush into a name,” said Alpert, who is also chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.

The roadmap for the new manual and findings from a year of strategic committee meetings are detailed in five papers published online on January 28 in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

‘A Foundational Framework’

The first DSM was published nearly 74 years ago. The last fully new version of the manual (DSM-5), which took nearly a decade to develop, was released in 2013. The latest update, known as the Text Revision version (DSM-5-TR), was published in 2022. 

In March 2024, the Future DSM Strategic Committee, chaired by Maria A. Oquendo, MD, chair of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, was created by the Board of Directors for the APA, which publishes the DSM.

“The DSM is really the foundational framework for mental health diagnosis. And each revision reflects advances in science, clinical practice, and cultural understanding,” Oquendo said at the briefing.

As reported by Medscape Medical News, plans for the next iteration were first presented at the 2025 APA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles in a series of sessions from four DSM subcommittees.

Those subcommittees were established to focus on biomarkers in diagnosis, quality of life/functioning, structure of the DSM (including a possible new modular format), and social determinants of mental health, including socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors.

Four of the newly published papers were commentaries that explain details from each of those subcommittees, while the fifth highlights the overall strategy for the future of the DSM. The papers are the result of “structured debate and consideration of long-standing critiques and rapid scientific advances,” the APA said in a release. 

“The goal is to advance scientific rigor, cultural inclusivity, and adaptability while ensuring that the DSM remains useful to clinicians and remains a trusted, relevant tool for understanding and treating mental disorders,” Marketa Wills, MD, CEO and medical director of the APA, added in the release.

Living Document

Plans for the new manual also include making it a “truly living document,” said Nitin Gogtay, MD, vice-chair of the Future DSM Strategic Committee and deputy medical director and vice president in the Division of Research at the APA, at the briefing. 

A past criticism of the DSM has been the long intervals between the different editions, which delay the incorporation of validated advances, he said.

“The static nature of the print DSM, which is widely used globally, compounds the challenge. There are online versions that do offer flexibility, but then there are inherent discrepancies between the print and digital formats,” Gogtay said.

The goal is to make the new DSM a scientifically vetted resource that will be updated through a deliberate and structured process as new evidence becomes available, he added. 

Gogtay noted that this may lead to “digital-first possibilities” with APA oversight, with an adaptable DSM database and future artificial intelligence (AI)-supported tools.

“AI is the reality, and people are already using AI to go to different sources to come to diagnostic formulations,” Gogtay added. “We want the DSM to not only be adaptable but also become the authoritative source for stakeholders.”

Asked at the briefing whether any digital safety-related guardrails would be incorporated into the process and what the AI tools might look like, Diana Clarke, PhD, senior director of research at the APA, said that the work is in the early stages and that the process would involve consultation with AI experts.

Art vs Science?

After the briefing, Alpert was asked about the ongoing debate among some psychiatrists as to whether psychiatry is or should be “more art than science” and whether the new DSM’s stronger focus on science will leave room for the “art” of it all. Alpert answered that he believes there will be room for both.

“They’re not at all contradictory. Psychiatry is a discipline that values humanism as well as science,” he told Medscape Medical News.

Alpert noted that precision medicine is often thought of as speaking only in terms of quantitative science, but a lot of thought also goes into the full context in which individuals live, including their cultural, developmental, or socioeconomic background.

“And that’s what we hope will be captured in the future DSM,” he said. 

Additional information on the DSM will be presented at the upcoming 2026 APA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Alpert added.