The Revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association

One of the outstanding inadequacies of DSM-II, according to the author, is the lack of specificity in the definition of terms. For example, there is no definition of syndrome, symptom, or symptom complex, although the first two of these are frequently used in the taxonomy itself. The notion of "neurosis" as a disease entity per se will raise issue with many clinicians as it appears to be covertly based on unsubstantiated psychodynamic assumptions. Also, the section on psychiatric disorders of childhood leaves much to be desired. He attempts to formulate an alternate system and to define commonly used terms with a greater degree of precision.