As the process of developing the manual progressed, the Roman numerical ‘V’ was replaced by the alpha numerical ‘5’. The most recent edition of the DSM was initially labeled DSM V. The trend continued while publishing the DSM IV (1994) and its text revised edition the DSM IV TR (2000). A revised version was christened DSM III R (1987). DSM III also pioneered the multiaxial system of evaluation and classification of mental disorders. The trend of fixing a roman suffix to the newer editions of the DSM commenced with the third edition which was titled DSM III (1980). The second edition (1968) was titled Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Second Edition. Authors of the manual had perhaps not envisaged that the manual would be revised periodically. It did not carry any number attached to its title.
The first edition of DSM (1952) was titled ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’. This committee published the first DSM in the year 1952. In the year 1950, the APA set up a committee on nomenclature and statistics. The World Health Organization (WHO) included a chapter on Mental Disorders in its International classification of Diseases (ICD) 6 (1949). After the war, psychiatrist with experience of using the Standard during the Second World War continued to use it in civilian practice. The Veterans Administration adopted the Standard with few modifications. Office of the US Surgeon General adopted the Standard to classify illnesses on the battle grounds and among veterans returning from the war. The US Navy revised the Medical 203 to formulate the “Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease” or the “Standard”. During World War II, the US army prepared a manual of medical illnesses called the ‘ Medical 203’. The American Medico-Psychological Association was later renamed APA in 1921.
The manual was designed for the use of Institutions for the Insane. In 1918, the American Medico-Psychological Association published a manual of classification of mental illnesses that listed 22 categories. Inaccurately defined categories of mental illness like mania, melancholia, monomania, general paralysis of the insane, dementia, and dipsomania were included in the US Census of 1880. Mental illnesses were then classified under a single category of idiocy/insanity. Earliest documented efforts to gather epidemiological data on mental illness commenced in the USA in the year 1840.