DSM training for psychologists
Price range: € 84,75 through € 229,50
DSM training for Basic Psychologists: Descriptive diagnosis and DSM
Training consists of two half day sessions: 2 sept 2025 and 30 sept 2025 (afternoon) in Utrecht
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is an international classification system for mental health conditions. It is based on scientific research and helps professionals use a shared language to describe and understand mental disorders.
In the Netherlands, only qualified and licensed practitioners registered in the BIG register are allowed to make official diagnoses. This requires specific knowledge, skills, and precision.
However, even if you are not licensed to diagnose, it is still important to understand the DSM if you work in Dutch mental health care. It helps you recognize symptoms, communicate with colleagues, and support the diagnostic process. That’s why PsyGlobal organizes an introductory training on DSM.
The program:
The first session (September 2) will start with an interactive presentation about:
- Descriptive diagnosis: A diagnosis in the form of a concise description of the mental problems and mental disorder in connection with the person’s context (vulnerabilities, triggers, protective and maintaining factors).
- DSM-5-TR. What is the DSM-5-TR? What advantages and disadvantages does the DSM have? Applying the DSM in practice.
Followed up by a practical part where we will be discussing the examples of clinical case studies.
In the second session (September 30), participants will present anonymized case studies to get the teacher’s feedback.
Participation Requirements:
- The training is designed for basic psychologists that are currently working in the Netherlands or will start soon
- Participants must be willing to share anonymized case material for the purpose of practicing
A certificate will be awarded upon full attendance and timely submission of required case materials.
The training will be in English and is available for all international mental health professionals residing in the Netherlands.
Training fees:
The training is offered at €169,50 incl. VAT (21%)*.
For this training it is mandatory to bring the book ‘DSM-5® Desk Reference (Desk reference diagnostic criteria from DSM-5-TR)‘. You can buy this yourself on bol.com, or we can supply the book for you for €60. The total price for the training including the book is €229,50.
If you are employed by PsyGlobal – Mental Health Professionals, we offer you a 50% discount on the training fee (€84,75). You can indicate this when you subscribe, the discount is automatically applied.
* When you work as freelancer (zzp) in the Netherlands, you can deduct the cost of this training. We will send you an invoice after you subscribe. More information: business.gov.nl
Waiting list
About the trainer
Ton van Heugten has worked in clinical practice for over 40 years and is now a non-practicing clinical psychologist-psychotherapist.
He considers himself a kind of “bilingual” professional: a psychologist who is equally familiar with many aspects of the psychiatrist’s role and responsibilities. With this background, he began in the mid-1980s to offer training in psychopathology and also in cognitive behavioral therapy.
In addition to his clinical work, he has been involved in healthcare innovation since the early 1990s, introducing case management within his institution in a way that closely resembled what would later become known as FACT (Flexible Assertive Community Treatment) and psychiatric rehabilitation. After 2000, this gradually evolved into implementing recovery-oriented care as a further development of psychiatric rehabilitation.
In the last ten-plus years of his career he also conducted many group learning therapy sessions for psychologists and offered extensive training to psychologists on psychopathology, particularly focused on descriptive diagnosis and DSM classification.