Explain what you know about cultural differences and why the DSM-V may be inappropriate without modifications for clients from cultures or sub-cultures much different from the “mainstream American” culture. The initial motivation in the U.S. to develop the original DSM was to collect statistical information about how many people were mentally ill, in what classifications of mental illness they should be placed, etc… In 1917, several federal agencies cooperated with the Bureau of the Census in putting together the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Today, the DSM-V is used as a kind of “clinician’s bible” – a resource to be referred to before conferring any diagnosis or assessment.
