DSM-IV

Recent articles

Collage of multiple figures on a hillside looking at a large blue book in the distance.

Debate remains over changes in DSM-5 a decade on

Changes to the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria for autism were meant to add clarity, but they also generated new questions.

By Shaena Montanari
31 May 2023 | 12 min read
Illustration of a gloved hand reaching down to place a pill bottle on a pedestal.

Debut drug for Rett syndrome at edge of approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to make an approval decision on the first-ever drug for girls and women with Rett syndrome by 12 March.

By Shaena Montanari
2 March 2023 | 9 min read
A cross-section of the human brain and limbic system

Amygdala-linked brain areas grow differently in autism

The growth differences vary between autistic boys and girls and are most apparent among children with prominent social difficulties.

By Charles Q. Choi
13 July 2022 | 5 min read
Child with colorful tactile puzzle and clinician or therapist.

Autism without intellectual impairments more common than previously reported

Almost 60 percent of autistic people may have an average or above-average intelligence quotient, according to a new longitudinal study.

By Jonathan Moens
1 December 2021 | 2 min read
Children scattered around a grid with a beam counting them

Autism prevalence in the United States, explained

The bulk of the increase in autism prevalence stems from a growing awareness of the condition and changes to the diagnostic criteria.

By Jessica Wright
3 September 2020 | 8 min read
Group of children walking in the countryside in Vietnam.

Large survey of children hints at true autism prevalence in Vietnam

Less than 1 percent of young children in northern Vietnam have autism, but this prevalence is higher than in previous reports.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
10 June 2019 | 4 min read
A group of high school kids walking down a set of stairs outside a building.

Autism prevalence program expands to include teenagers

The network of researchers keeping tabs on autism prevalence in U.S. children plans to follow up with some of those children in adolescence.

By Rachel Zamzow
1 October 2018 | 4 min read

Dividing autism; novel messengers; million-dollar mark and more

A researcher proposes splitting autism into subtypes, mitochondria make neurotransmitters, and highly successful grantees may face a funding cap.

By Emily Willingham
11 May 2018 | 3 min read
People standing with shapes around them

The evolution of ‘autism’ as a diagnosis, explained

From a form of childhood schizophrenia to a spectrum of conditions, the characterization of autism in diagnostic manuals has a complicated history.

By Lina Zeldovich
9 May 2018 | 7 min read

Narrowing of ‘autism’ in DSM-5 runs counter to idea of broad spectrum

The strict definition of autism in the latest version of the diagnostic manual is antithetical to the idea that autism comes in a wide variety of forms.

By Brian Reichow, Fred Volkmar
9 May 2018 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Nonhuman brain slice.

Nonhuman primate research to lose federal funding at major European facility

The Dutch Senate has ordered the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands to shift its funding away from primate experiments by 2030.

By Lauren Schenkman
30 October 2025 | 4 min read
Image of potentially duplicated research figures.

Image integrity issues create new headache for subarachnoid hemorrhage research

First-time sleuths found potentially problematic images in hundreds of papers about early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

By Lauren Schneider
30 October 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of mouse brain slices stained in red and blue.

Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice

The findings add fuel to the long-running debate over how an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory signaling contributes to the autism.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
30 October 2025 | 6 min read

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