Theoretical Position
The APA reflects and represents mainstream psychiatry in the United States. Reflecting larger trends, the APA members and leaders had been largely psychodynamic in their approaches until recent decades, when the field became more "biopsychosocial."
The DSM is currently intended to be less theoretical than prior editions, having moved away from psychodynamic theories to be more widely accepted, and is proposed to not be committed to a particular theorized etiology for mental disorders. The criteria for many of the mental disorders have been expanded and involve a checklist of so-called 'Feighner Criteria' to try and capture the varying sets of features which would be necessary to diagnose a particular disorder.
Read more about this topic: American Psychiatric Association
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