| Summary: | BACKGROUND: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which was revised from DSM-IV to DSM-5 in 2013, provides the current criteria for measuring childhood mental health disorders. The Federal Register provides the definition of serious emotional disturbance (SED) based on DSM-III-R criteria. The purpose of this report is to describe the differences between the DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria that could affect national estimates of childhood SED, as defined in the Federal Register. METHOD: The report reviewed the wording and criteria related to childhood mental disorders under DSM-IV and DSM-5 and assessed the implications of the changes for generating estimates of SED and whether these revisions align with the Federal Register definition of SED. The report also described plans to integrate the DSM-5 changes into the leading diagnostic instruments for assessing childhood mental disorders. RESULTS: The DSM-5 changes raise issues relevant to the definition of SED and which disorders are included in SED. CONCLUSION: Decisions will need to be made about which disorders within the new DSM-5 are included under the SED definition, and the disorders excluded from SED will need to be identified and explicitly stated. The DSM-5 changes will also narrow the number of diagnostic measures to be considered for use in children's mental health surveillance efforts until diagnostic instruments are updated to explicitly use DSM-5 diagnostic criteria
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