Rating: 
Summary: At times useful, but ripe for Abuse
Review: Imagine for a moment that someone tattoo's a single word upon your forehead. You walk around and this is what people see. They sterotype you based on that single word. All that they think you are or ever will be is contained in that word. How would that affect you? The DMS-IV-TR and previous editions, are the "cookbooks" of the psychiatry and psychology world. However, often they are used to simply label someone with a diagnosis that is supposed to tell you everything you need to know about this persons psychological make-up. How absurd! As a psychologist myself, I find the diagnosis useful only as a starting point in helping the patient discover what may be a part of their problem. Some people find a diagnosis helpful. They get a "Oh! So that's what's been wrong with me all these years" kind of reaction. After that, I help the person realize that they are more than their diagnosis. However, this book is written from a "medical" model. I've often found that many so called "mental disorders" are Crisis' of the Spirit and soul and have little to do with a disease modality. Tread carefully when reading this book. Note that only one diagnosis (PTSD) has any suggested cause. The book simply describes a set of behaviors that are grouped together and given a name. It doesn't suggest any cause or cure. The book is limited by this respect.
Rating: 
Summary: Great reference, good bathroom reading. Lousy storyline.
Review: It is a good book for attempting to nail down and quantify the disorders given in a bottom line way, just like any good reference would. Although, as another reviewer wrote, its not perfect, but its the best thing we've got. Use it more as a general reference and not strictly as any kind of instruction manual. I would tend to take it in more as recreational reading if it included maybe some case studies or whatnot. But being that much of it is divided into short chunks, it makes an excellent addition to any powder room...
Rating:
Summary: Great reference, good bathroom reading. Lousy storyline.
Review: It is a good book for attempting to nail down and quantify the disorders given in a bottom line way, just like any good reference would. Although, as another reviewer wrote, its not perfect, but its the best thing we've got. Use it more as a general reference and not strictly as any kind of instruction manual. I would tend to take it in more as recreational reading if it included maybe some case studies or whatnot. But being that much of it is divided into short chunks, it makes an excellent addition to any powder room...
Rating:
Summary: Not much new...
Review: Like other reviewers, I agree that if you own DSM-IV (burgundy cover), there is absolutely no reason for you to purchase the DSM-IV-TR (silver cover). Might as well wait for DSM-V (won't that be a treat). If you are not a mental health professional or graduate student, I can't imagine why you would want to own this book. It is essentially a compilation of symptom and behavior checklists that help clinicians make reliable diagnoses of mental disorders.I would recommend strongly (for both professionals, students, and the lay public), DSM-IV Made Easy by James Morrison. Morrison's book makes the DSM come alive. He illustrates technical points well, and provides interesting case examples that make you think of people when you read the diagnosis, not just symptoms.
Rating: 
Summary: I disagree about laypeople reading it...
Review: Most laypeople with a college education can understand a good portion of this book, in my opinion, especially the areas that note what symptoms are needed to classify for each disorder. I do know that easier books are out there, but I don't discourage others from purchasing it, especially if they have a friend, family member, colleague, etc. that has been or has not yet been diagnosed with a mental disorder. This is the "bible" psychiatrists use to diagnose and I am glad it is available to the public.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Psychologists, disappointing for Psychiatrists
Review: Of course, this is the bible of mental disorder diagnoses, at least in the U.S. The diagnoses are pretty inclusive, but there are several problems with this book as it pertains to the practice of Psychiatry. First, the book offers about 900 pages on symptom diagnosis, and about half a paragraph on the types of psychiatric medications that are effective for the particular diagnosis. 95% of diagnoses have absolutely no recommendations for treatment. This leads to the second problem: differentiation of primary vs. secondary symptoms. The primary symptoms are the cornerstone of diagnosis. The secondary symptoms take way too much space in this book, and are generally not helpful in making a diagnosis, because the vast majority of secondary symptoms overlap in most mental illnesses. The important use for secondary symptoms is for the type of therapy that should be used (psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy). For example, if two patients are depressed, the diagnosis is made from primary symptoms (tiredness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, psychomotor retardation). However, if patient "A" has no significant secondary symptoms like anxiety or insomnia, they can take a high dose of SSRI or Effexor. But if patient "B" has the secondary symptoms of prominent anxiety and insomnia, Remeron or Serzone may be more helpful, and perhaps a benzodiazepine can be added. The DSM IV does nothing to further the practicality of psychiatry. And that's a shame, because only a few hundred extra pages of pharmacotherapy recommendations would make the book so much more helpful to psychiatrists, who currently waste a lot of time experienting with every drug for the treatment-resistant patients. Some drugs work better for some people based on secondary symptoms, which cannot be ignored in the choice of drug treatment. A good book that does match secondary symptoms to drug treatment is The Failures of American Medicine.
Rating:
Summary: specific value only
Review: The diagnostic sections remain largely unchanged. Only significant changes were to the text portion, hence the TR designation-- text revised. This is important if you are a student or in a research position. They produced this version in response to the fact that many graduate programs are using the DSM as a text book in their Pathology courses. In this regard, the new version is worthwhile and clearly justified. It also buys them a little more time in development of the DSM V. For clinical purposes, don't bother, it's not worth the money. If you are getting your first copy, or are looking for class, then you want this edition.
Rating:
Summary: Must have for clinicians
Review: The DSM does not detail etiology or treatments. That is not its purpose. It does allow clinicians to use similar vocabulary and diagnostic criteria when discussing specific mental illnesses. When I talk to another psychiatrist and say someone has schizophrenia, it helps to know we are talking about a presentation that, although it may be unique, fits general diagnostic criteria. Maybe not all of the criteria, but generally so. I do not recommend this book to patients.
Rating:
Summary: The human psyche captured
Review: The DSM is - unjustly - much decried and much derided by critics, both laymen and mental health practitioners. Its shortcomings notwithstanding, it is a noble and largely successful attempt to capture the dysfunctions of the human psyche in the confines of a single tome. Is mental illness a mere figment of our cultural and social milieu? Are the distinctions between mental disorders - the differential diagnoses - too ambiguous? Is the DSM too formal and bureaucratic? You bet. Has anyone come up with anything remotely better? No, Sir! The DSM is not only a system of classification - but also an insightful distillation of decades of clinical experience. A must. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"
Rating:
Summary: Important historical document
Review: The DSM is to psychiatry what Malleus Maleficarum was to the Inquisition. Historians will find it an essential guide to the superstition and cruelty of the period.
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