Mindspan · Study Materials · DSM-5-TR Differential Reasoning

DSM-5-TR Differential Reasoning

Drill the differential until the reasoning is automatic.

Six diagnostic-cluster modules + applied differential decision trees. Differential-reasoning practice for exam preparation: decision support for study, not a diagnostic device and not for diagnosing patients. Authored by a registered psychologist.

Planned price — A$89 incl. Australian GST · not on sale yet12 months access · Not a subscription

Registered psychologists · GPs · psychiatrists · allied clinicians · advanced trainees.

6

Diagnostic-cluster modules

Reasoning

Decision trees included

12mo

Access from purchase

Study aid

Not a diagnostic device

What’s in the reference

Six diagnostic-cluster modules. Each one is a reasoning-focused grid + decision tree: pocket-ready, study-only, designed to sit beside the official APA DSM-5-TR.

Module 1 · Depressive Disorders

Depressive Disorders

Reference grid + decision tree

Major depressive, persistent depressive, disruptive mood dysregulation, premenstrual dysphoric, substance/medication-induced depressive, and depressive disorder due to another medical condition. Reasoning-focused: what discriminates, what hedges, what to cross-check.

  • Duration anchors at a glance: 2-week / 2-year / cyclical thresholds with cross-references
  • MDD vs persistent depressive disorder discriminators (course, severity, specifier overlap)
  • Adjustment disorder with depressed mood: when it fits, when it doesn't
  • Specifier guidance: melancholic, atypical, anxious distress, peripartum, seasonal pattern
  • Cross-check prompts: bipolar mixed features, bereavement, medical aetiology rule-outs

Module 2 · Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Reference grid + decision tree

Generalised anxiety, panic, agoraphobia, social anxiety, specific phobia, separation anxiety, selective mutism, substance/medication-induced anxiety. What overlaps with depression, OCD, trauma. What rules each in vs out.

  • GAD vs adjustment vs MDD-with-anxious-distress: the discriminator that holds up
  • Panic disorder vs agoraphobia vs PTSD: focus and trigger heuristics
  • Social anxiety vs avoidant personality: pervasiveness, ego-syntonic test
  • Duration anchors: 6-month thresholds, persistence requirements, age-specific notes
  • Cardiac / endocrine / substance rule-outs before settling on a primary anxiety Dx

Module 3 · Trauma & Stressor-Related

Trauma & Stressor-Related Disorders

Reference grid + decision tree

PTSD, acute stress, adjustment disorder, reactive attachment, disinhibited social engagement, prolonged grief. Time-course discriminators, dissociative-symptoms specifier, cultural-formulation prompts.

  • PTSD vs acute stress disorder: the 3-day / 1-month / >1-month time map
  • Adjustment disorder when it fits, and when it under-codes a presentation
  • Prolonged grief disorder: 12-month threshold and the with-impairment hedge
  • PTSD with dissociative symptoms: when the specifier changes management
  • Trauma-related vs primary anxiety vs depressive: onset relative to stressor

Module 4 · OCD-Related

Obsessive-Compulsive & Related Disorders

Reference grid + decision tree

OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding, trichotillomania, excoriation, substance/medication-induced OC-related, and OC-related due to another medical condition. Insight specifier, tic-related specifier, the OCD-vs-anxiety boundary.

  • OCD vs anxiety with intrusive worry: the compulsion test
  • BDD vs anorexia: preoccupation focus and gating insight specifier
  • Hoarding disorder: distinct from OCD-with-hoarding-symptoms
  • Insight specifier: good/fair vs poor vs absent/delusional implications
  • Substance / medical rule-outs before settling on OCD-related Dx

Module 5 · Bipolar-Related Disorders

Bipolar & Related Disorders

Reference grid + decision tree

Bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic, substance/medication-induced bipolar, bipolar due to another medical condition. Mania vs hypomania thresholds, mixed-features specifier, the unipolar-vs-bipolar discrimination.

  • Mania vs hypomania: 7-day vs 4-day, severity and impairment thresholds
  • Bipolar II vs cyclothymic: duration + episode-completeness map
  • MDD with mixed features vs bipolar II: the discrimination clinicians most miss
  • Substance / medical aetiology: stimulant-induced vs primary bipolar I
  • Rapid cycling, anxious distress, peripartum specifiers: when each applies

Module 6 · Differential Decision Trees

Applied Differential Decision Trees

Worked decision trees + cross-cluster cards

How clinicians actually move from presentation to formulation. Cross-cluster decision trees for the most-confused diagnostic boundaries. Hedging language modelled: what to put in the report, what to leave to supervision.

  • Anxious-depressed presentation: primary mood vs primary anxiety vs adjustment
  • Psychotic-mood overlap: bipolar with psychotic features vs schizoaffective vs schizophrenia
  • Trauma-presenting-as-anxiety: when to lift trauma to primary
  • Substance-induced vs primary: the specific cross-checks that change the formulation
  • When to defer and request a second opinion: explicit decision points

See exactly what you get

Download a 2-page sample

Page 1: Depressive Disorders module preview. Page 2: the full module map with QR. SAMPLE ONLY watermark. Study-only framing throughout.

Download sample (PDF) ↓

See the reasoning in action

Live previews from inside the set: the criteria anchors, the differential decision grid, the specifiers most often missed, and a worked application question. Decision support for study, not a diagnostic device.

Cardinal criteria grid
Category
Cardinal
Duration
Trap / rule-out
MDD
Low mood / anhedonia
≥ 2 wk
Screen hypomania
GAD
Uncontrollable worry
≥ 6 mo
Rule out thyroid
PTSD
Re-experiencing
> 1 mo
Not adjustment
Schizophrenia
Persistent psychosis
≥ 6 mo
Exclude mood ep.
Anorexia
Significantly low weight
No time bar
Weight > binge/purge
OCD
Obsessions + rituals
> 1 hr/day
Not ego-syntonic
duration anchors at a glance · every cluster
DDx · GAD vs Panic vs Social Anxiety
GAD
Panic
Social
Fear focus
Many domains
The attacks
Being judged
Trigger
Free-floating
Uncued
Social cue
Duration
≥ 6 mo
≥ 1 mo worry
≥ 6 mo
Hallmark
Chronic tension
Out-of-blue
Avoids scrutiny
▸ Uncued out-of-the-blue attack → panic; cued by a setting → social/phobia
A-vs-B decision rules, rehearsed at speed
Specifiers, severity & course
With anxious distressMDD / bipolarTension, restlessness in episode
With psychotic featuresMDD / bipolarDelusions or hallucinations
With mixed featuresBipolarOpposite-polarity symptoms co-occur
With dissociative sxPTSDDepersonalisation / derealisation
Poor / absent insightOCDBelieves obsessions are true
when each applies · what to document
Sample application question · try it

Daniel, 29, presents low: oversleeping, low energy, flat mood for three weeks. On screening he describes a past four-day stretch where he barely needed sleep, felt sharp, and got a month of work done — friends noticed, but it caused no major problems and no hospitalisation.

pick an answer to reveal the worked rationale

Planned pricing

A$89 incl. Australian GST · planned price · not on sale yet

All prices include Australian GST. Tax invoice emailed automatically after purchase. 12 months access. Full refund within 14 days of purchase if you have opened less than 20% of the materials. This policy is in addition to your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. If something you bought is faulty or not as described, you can ask us to fix it or refund you, and the 14-day and 20% limits do not apply.

The planned price is shown so you can decide before checkout opens; no sale date is set, and the materials need paid access. This independent educational reference is designed to sit alongside the official APA DSM-5-TR, not to replace the authoritative source, clinical judgment, supervision, or formal training.

A$89 incl. Australian GST · planned price · not on sale yet

Get one email when it opens

Leave your email and we’ll send one message when checkout opens. No release date is promised and nothing is charged. The study materials are part of the paid product and need access; the two-page sample above is the free part and shows the method.

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In developmentWhy this, and why now

A pocket reference for the moment two diagnoses look alike.

Six diagnostic-cluster modules, each a reasoning grid and decision tree built to sit beside the manual. It is not on sale yet; the free sample is open now.

Who it is for

  • Clinicians and students who want a fast differential check
  • Anyone preparing for competency exams who has the criteria but not the rule-outs

What it takes off your plate

  • Flipping between chapters to compare two presentations
  • No quick way to check which feature separates close diagnoses

The journey inside

  1. Read the sample

    Two real pages from the reference, free to download.

  2. Keep your eye in

    The free Daily Drop and DSM Practice use the same reasoning style while you wait.

  3. When it opens

    One email to the people who asked, pointing to this page.

  • Six cluster modules, each a grid plus a decision tree
  • Built to sit beside the manual, not replace it

Honest answers to the usual doubts

I can just use ChatGPT.

Try it with the sample below. A grid you can scan in ten seconds works differently from a conversation, and many people want both.

I am not sure it fits me.

Download the two-page sample. If the format does not help you, you have lost nothing.

Take a sample into your own AI

Open the sample, copy the prompt, and give both to the AI model you already use. It is a fair way to see how the material works before you commit to anything.

PDF: Differential Reasoning: two-page sample 
I have attached a two-page sample from the Mindspan DSM-5-TR Differential Reasoning reference. It shows one cluster; the full reference covers six.

Please use it to quiz me:
1. Invent a short, fictional presentation that sits between two diagnoses in this sample.
2. Ask me which diagnosis fits better and which feature decides it.
3. Check my answer against the grid in the sample and explain any gap.
4. Repeat three times, making each case a little harder.

Keep all cases fictional and educational.

A sample is one step. The full product carries it further, in order, and keeps your place.

Get an email when it opensDownload the free sampleTwo real pages · PDF · no signup

Independent educational resource by a registered psychologist. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, AHPRA, the Psychology Board of Australia, the APS or any university. Study aid only: no result is promised.

Common questions

Who is this for?

Psychology students, provisional psychologists, and registered clinicians who want to practise and sharpen their DSM-5-TR differential reasoning for exams and professional development. It is decision support for study and exam practice, not a diagnostic device, not a tool for diagnosing patients, and not a substitute for clinical judgment, supervision, or formal training.

How is this different from the official APA app or the DSM-5-TR book?

The official American Psychiatric Association DSM-5-TR remains the authoritative source for the diagnostic criteria themselves. This Mindspan reference is independent commentary + decision-support material built around it: reasoning summaries, differential decision trees, specifier guidance, and conservative, study-only framing for the Australian clinical context. Always refer to the official APA DSM-5-TR for the canonical criteria.

Is this a medical device or diagnostic tool?

No. It is an educational decision-support reference. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace clinical judgment. It supports clinicians who are doing their own assessment, formulation, and decision-making.

How long do I have access?

12 months from the date of purchase. PDFs are downloadable and remain yours after access expires.

GST and invoicing?

All prices are in Australian Dollars and include GST. A tax invoice is issued automatically after purchase and emailed to the address you provide at checkout.

Is it on sale yet?

Not yet, and no sale date is set. The price shown (A$89 incl. Australian GST) is the planned price; nothing is charged while it is not on sale. The study materials are part of the paid product and need access. The two-page sample is free to download now. Leave your email below and we will send one message when checkout opens.

What if the price drops after I buy?

If you bought a program in the 30 days before we introduced a bundle or a lower price, ask us and we'll refund the difference or apply it to an upgrade. Ask from My Mindspan (/account/refund) or email info@mindspan.com.au.

Educational use only. This is an independent clinical-decision-support reference created by a registered psychologist. It does not constitute clinical supervision, legal advice, official exam guidance, or a medical device. It does not diagnose. Refer to the official American Psychiatric Association DSM-5-TR as the authoritative source for diagnostic criteria. Not affiliated with the American Psychiatric Association or the Psychology Board of Australia. DSM-5-TR is a registered trademark of the American Psychiatric Association.
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DSM-5-TR Differential Reasoning — Exam Practice | Mindspan