DSM IV vs DSM V on psych shelf

[yoyohomieg5432]

I'm trying to get some books for my upcoming psych rotation and obviously the older ones (circa 2011) are much cheaper.. but they are on DSM IV. Is there a huge difference between DSM IV and V? I would obviously prefer to spend $40 on the book by getting the old one, but if I'm going to be studying old material that's irrelevant then getting the new book is better.

This is in reference to the lange psych questions by the way. I was going to get the first aid psych book which the newest edition is already a couple years old too.

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[Stagg737]

I'm trying to get some books for my upcoming psych rotation and obviously the older ones (circa 2011) are much cheaper.. but they are on DSM IV. Is there a huge difference between DSM IV and V? I would obviously prefer to spend $40 on the book by getting the old one, but if I'm going to be studying old material that's irrelevant then getting the new book is better.

This is in reference to the lange psych questions by the way. I was going to get the first aid psych book which the newest edition is already a couple years old too.

There are a few differences, but nothing is too major. For example, Asperger's Syndrome is no longer a diagnosis and now falls under autism spectrum disorder and they completely did away with the Axis system. Here's a couple links with the changes, first one is just highlighting the more notable major changes while the second one is more in-depth and comprehensive to the changes within each section:

DSM-5 Released: The Big Changes | World of Psychology
file:///Users/kelseymacdonald/Downloads/APA_DSM_Changes_from_DSM-IV-TR_-to_DSM-5.pdf

For what it's worth all I used were FA and Case Files for books (both now out of date) and the UWorld Qbank (from what I've heard, Lange questions are much better) and I scored around the 75th percentile.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Buy the newest book so you can learn about new conditions not in the previous DSM. (ie Over Eating Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, etc.)

On the shelf, the old DSM diagnoses will have the new name, and the old name listed beside it in parentheses.

 

[WingedOx]

Honestly I have a hard time believing that there'd be a difference significant enough to actually affect your performance on your exam.

 

[W19]

There is no freaking difference. Just a bunch of old psych guys who got together and start changing name of some of these disorders just to make it feel like the field is evolving... But I think the shelf I took last December used DSM IV...

 

[MSTP18]

But I think the shelf I took last December used DSM IV...

Nope, it was definitely based on 5 (unless you meant December 2015), per my clerkship director, who is fantastic for shelf prep as the mean psych shelf score at my school is ~90th percentile nationally.

 

[W19]

Nope, it was definitely based on 5 (unless you meant December 2015), per my clerkship director, who is fantastic for shelf prep as the mean psych shelf score at my school is ~90th percentile nationally.

Oh well, I guess they put the old diagnoses in parenthesis. Anyway, I used the DSM IV to study and still got 80%+ percentile...

 

[MSTP18]

Oh well, I guess they put the old diagnoses in parenthesis. Anyway, I used the DSM IV to study and still got 80%+ percentile...

Oh yeah, I don't mean to imply that studying off 4 is insufficient to do well - just that my clerkship director definitely said it was 5 this year (2016-2017) and based on the performance of our students on the shelf - I'll blindly trust anything our clerkship director says about it.

 

[Chillbo Baggins]

I used the DSM-4 Lange book, the DSM-5 UWorld questions, and OnlineMedEd (which I think are still 4), and did very well. I don't think there was a significant difference, since it's not like they have both DSM-4 and DSM-5 answers on there to try to trick you. Most things haven't significantly changed, but just keep an eye out. And then when doing the Lange book, just skip the questions over Axes.

 

[WingedOx]

I used the DSM-4 Lange book, the DSM-5 UWorld questions, and OnlineMedEd (which I think are still 4), and did very well. I don't think there was a significant difference, since it's not like they have both DSM-4 and DSM-5 answers on there to try to trick you. Most things haven't significantly changed, but just keep an eye out. And then when doing the Lange book, just skip the questions over Axes.

I know the authors of Lange and most of First Aid for psych, and they recently did a full revision of both for DSM 5 though how extensive that is I'm still not sure. For First Aid, I doubt you'll see much difference. If you have access to both Lange books, see if they have written new questions or just edited the old ones. If it's the former, you'd have the advantage of additional study materials.

/though really, the ABPN psychiatry boards change for DSM5 was practically nonexistent. I really really doubt the med student shelf wouldn't be the same way.