5.1.1 Diagnosis of Mental Disorders

Question 1

Abnormality

Answer 1

• Decided by 4 D’s which are 4 dimensions of diagnosis
• Influenced by factors such as time and culture

Question 2

What to consider

Answer 2

• No clear cut definitions of abnormal
• Seen as a scale
• Emotions are normal but context, length of time and severity should be considered
• E.g. crying after a death is normal but crying for years and quitting a job and not being able to perform tasks is worrying

Question 3

Deviance

Answer 3

• Different to societal norms
• Deviate from social norms and also viewed as unacceptable
• E.g. being unnecessarily angry in public shouting and swearing

Question 4

Strength

Answer 4

Credibility
- Used with ICD-10 and DSM-5
- E.g. combination of deviance, dysfunction and danger may be anti social personality disorder
- They’re valid in helping to provide diagnosis and understand whether someone needs one

Question 5

Weakness

Answer 5

Implication
- Those labelled as deviant and abnormal may be avoided
- Social isolation can produce depressive symptoms
- Those in society wont want to be around them

Question 6

Distress

Answer 6

• Extent to which the individual perceives their own behaviour and/or emotions as upsetting
• Subjective as what is distressing may differ between people

Question 7

Strength (distress)

Answer 7

Credibility
- Qualitative data
- Scales such as K-10
- Using questions about anxiety and depressive symptoms over the past 4 weeks to gage how distress levels
- Individualised to that person, valid diagnosis based on specific symptoms

Question 8

Weakness (distress)

Answer 8

Limitation
- Uses self report data
- May not be truthful due to social desirability bias
- Lower credibility of the diagnosis preventing correct treatment

Question 9

Dysfunction

Answer 9

• Disturbances in psychological state prevents us from effectively doing our social and occupational roles
• Impact aspects of daily life
• E.g. being too scared of people to go into public

Question 10

Strength (dysfunction)

Answer 10

Credibility
- Objective measures
- WHODAS II covers six domains of functioning including self care and life activities
- Scales of 1 to 5
- Valid because can be compared across people without concern of mental health to see if there are significant issues in areas

Question 11

Weakness

Answer 11

Limitation
- Subjectivity in what counts as dysfunctional
- Individual may not believe its dysfunctional
- May be more dysfunctional for society not the individual

Question 12

Danger

Answer 12

• Behaviour and feelings that pose a threat to themselves or others
• Severe psychological problems often marked by carelessness, hostility, poor judgement
• E.g. violence or suicidal thoughts

Question 13

Strength

Answer 13

Credibility
- Using all 4 can avoid diagnosis errors
- if only one was considered then people with high/low on the others may be missed
- E.g someone quirky but harmless and not dysfunctional may be diagnosed

Question 14

Weakness

Answer 14

Implication
- Labels
- Self fulfilling prophecy
- Leads to more dangerous as they believe the dangerous behaviour is what’s expected of them