Chapter 3 (Adult) Flashcards
What is a clinical assessment?
The systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological and social factors in an individual with possible psychological disorder.
Classical medical definition of a diagnosis?
The process of identifying a disease by its manifestations (symptoms, signs, results) of various special investigations.
Define diagnosis
Process of determining if a presenting problem meets established criteria for a specific psychological disorder.
2 components of diagnosis.
Securing symptoms and signs and interoperating adjunctive sources of information
The knowledge of normal functioning and behavior and their pathological counterparts required by diagnosis
What are signs and symptoms? Are they important to a psychologist for diagnosis?
- A symptom characterizes a state, condition or entity.
- symptoms indicate change from a former state.
- it is also a manifestation of a state or condition conceptualized as indicating an abnormality as indicated by the affected individual - A sign is a manifestation of a condition that may indicate abnormality observed by another person like a doctor or a psychologist.
Why is it usually difficult to differentiate between a symptom and a sign?
Other features of an issue are both a sign and a symptom. Eg, mood, sweaty palms and shaking.
What 3 things should be known for a diagnosis?
Who? Why? What?
- who is the person?
-why are they being consulted?
- what can be observed?
By what means do psychologists examine?
Observing mental state and behavior.
State 3 standardized test instruments
- Neuropsychological batteries
- Intelligence assessments
- Personality assessments.
State and explain the types of diagnosis
Phenomenological diagnosis- when only observed and reported information is available
Syndromal diagnosis- the refers to when the reoccurrence of predictable clusters of phenomena is recognized. There is more information known because there is enough observable phenomena
What is the so-called hypothetico deductive method?
An intermediate approach that best exemplifies the logical underpinnings of the diagnostic process
Outline the process of the so-called hypothetico deductive method
- The clinician forms a hypothesis about the problem from the onset
What combination of the approaches is best for a diagnosis?
- History- presents the main substance of the hypothesis
- A focused, further direct enquiry to confirm or refute the hypothesis
- An examination, which provides similar information to special investigations.
What are pathognomonic diagnosis
It means that there is one symptom or sign or set of symptoms of signs that uniquely define a condition. They are rare and relying on this approach is p e r i l o u s
Define delirium
When a syndrome and the available evidence does not shed anymore light on what the causes and what the outcomes might be
Name four things that indicate delirium
Decrease arousal
Poor attention
Cognitive disturbances hallucination
What are two rare examples of a e t i o l o g i c diagnosis in mental health
Huntington’s disease which is a major neuro cognitive disorder and neurosyphilis formally called general paresis of the insane
Why is functional diagnosis useful?
Allows us to consider the functional implications of a condition and and it’s useful in dramatic brain injury chronic psychotic conditions and neuro developmental disorders
What is a differential diagnosis?
Refers to a list of possible conditions that conform to the available clinical information
What is a final diagnosis
It is reached only after other disorders on the lists have been eliminated through further investigations
What is a syndrome
Implies the clustering of given symptoms signs and results of special investigations that occurs with sufficient regularity and predictability constituting a putative disease entity. A syndrome also refers to asset of Clinical and supporting information that coo occur at a frequency greater than change
What is a disease?
A disease consists of a combination of Clinical phenomenology course behavior pathogenesis and atlogy or initial cause
What three basic concepts that help determine the value of our assessment help lesions understand the different choice to assess psychological problems?
Reliability validity and standardization
Define reliability
Refers to the extent at which a measurement is consistent