Abnormality and diagnosis Flashcards
4 D’s of abnormality
deviance
dysfunction
distress
danger
when may someones behaviour be considered devient
if it is infequently seen in society and it does not reflect society’s shared norms and culture
dysfunction for diagnosing abnormality
when abnormal behaviour is significantly interfering with everyday tasks and living your life
distress (personal)
when the abnormal behaviour causes the subject personal distress
danger (distress to others)
when the abnormal behaviour causes others distress
purpose of diagnosis
to allow the individual to be successfully treated
classification of mental illness allows the symptoms and prevalence of the disease to be recorded
how are classification systems useful in distinguishing between conditions
differentiation and similarities between conditions to be seen clearly
DSM - classification system
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychological disorders - introduced in 1952
DSM V is the newest version - has 22 major diagnostic catagories with groups over 200 psychological disorders
ICD
International Classification of diseases
11 diagnostic catagories
1992 - ICD 10 released by WHO
Strengths of diagnosis
recognition that others are going through the same experience - sense of community
official diagnosis only possible through research on the disorder - suggests the disorder is now understood, so a treatment or therapy may be available
how does Rosenhan (1973) prove the DSM not to be valid?
it could not tell that the pseudo patients did
not have a mental health disorder so diagnosis
of schizophrenia may not be valid.
how does the DSM V take into account cultural issues?
section 3 which advises cultural
issues should be taken into account so these
should have less of an effect on the reliability of
diagnosis.
How did Stinchfield et al. (2015) show that the DSM 5 led to fewer false negatives in diagnosis than the DSM IV?
Stinchfield et al. (2015) found that DSM 5 led to
fewer false negatives than DSM IV when
diagnosing gambling disorder suggesting
classification systems are valid.
how might what the patients tell the psychiatrists impact on the reliability of diagnosis
Diagnosis can be affected by what the patients
tell the psychiatrist, so if a patient tells two
psychiatrists different things this may affect the
reliability of their diagnosis.
