Beyond theDSM

This article presents an alternative approach to the DSM for the understanding and treatment of patients with psychiatric conditions. This alternative approach, based on The Perspectives of Psychiatry, requires a systematic consideration of the patient's psychiatric condition from 4 perspectives: disease, dimensional, behavior, and life story. The Perspectives approach offers a way of understanding the nature and origin of clinical presentations and provides a clear structure for developing personalized treatment plans. Although the approach was originally articulated at Johns Hopkins University, a review of the literature shows significant dispersion of elements of the model to other institutions in several countries. The Perspectives approach is increasingly used as a method for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders and is a valuable educational tool for teaching psychiatry to students.