Relational Processes and DSM-V

Book excerpt: Seeking to integrate the large volume of clinical research on relational processes and mental health disorders with other scientific advances in psychiatry, Relational Processes and DSM-V builds on exciting advances in clinical research on troubled relationships. These advances included marked improvements in the assessment and epidemiology of troubled relationships as well the use of genetics, neuroscience, and immunology to explore the importance of close relationships in clinical practice. Advances in assessment, intervention, and prevention are also highlighted to help practitioners and researchers find common ground and begin an empirically based discussion about the best way to revise the DSM. Given the overwhelming research showing that relationships play a role in regulating neurobiology and genetic expression and are critical for understanding schizophrenia, conduct disorder, and depression among other disorders, relational processes must be a part of any empirically based plan for revising psychiatric nosology in DSM-V. The contributors examine the relevance of relationships in such issues as the basic psychopathology of mental disorders, factors influencing maintenance and relapse, sources of burden for family members, and the development of guidelines for family-based interventions. Coverage includes approaches to the assessment of relational processes with clinical significance, an introduction to the methodology of taxometrics, and an overview of the links between relational processes and psychiatric outcomes. Together, these contributions seek to develop a shared commitment among clinicians, researchers, and psychopathologists to take seriously the issue of relational processes as they relate to diagnoses within the DSM--and to encourage mental health care workers at all levels to harness the healing properties of relationships in clinical practice.