DSM is needed to help describe a mental disorder with more
specificity. The DSM provides guidelines, self-rated symptom
measures, and allows for factors such as gender, age, and sex to
assist with diagnosing and categorizing the severity of the
disorder. According to an article, Diagnostic and statistical manual of
mental disorders 5: A quick glance, by Vihang Vahia, the ability to
rate the severity of a patient’s symptoms helps to “grade and chart
the course of the disorder.” The article also states that DSM can be
used as a tool to monitor the mental health of the community. The
gathered data can be used by researchers, physicians, and of course
the medical coders with the intent of enhancing the quality of care
for patients with mental health disorders (Vahia, 2013).
ICD-10 on the other hand is simply used to code the diagnosis for
reimbursement; however, the codes can also be used for trending
purposes. Since DSM and ICD-10 are two different systems, they do
not align perfectly. The DSM is used as a diagnosis tool and to help
create a robust description, which can be used to assign the best
ICD-10 code (Foley, 2016).
