The American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Abstract

Most psychiatrists are members of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which publishes the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders of the APA. This work, the mental health equivalent of the penal code, is now in its fifth iteration. Like the psychiatrist and the social worker, the training at all levels includes regular contact with patients and practical experience in the field. Like psychiatry, there are dozens of specializations. These include abnormal, adolescent, education, industrial, marriage counseling, testing, and others. Social workers are different from psychologists because they tend to take a broader view of their patient as a member of a family or other social group. Mental health professionals are typically people with a college degree who work with patients in a mental health facility. The psychotic condition of paranoia has now been incorporated into the classification of Paranoid Schizophrenia and unfortunately the multi-axial system has been eliminated.