Chapter 5: Classification, Assessment & Intervention

Question 1

Classification/taxonomy

Answer 1

Major categories or dimensions of behavioural disorders

Question 2

Diagnosis

Answer 2

Assigning a category of a classification system to an individual

Question 3

Assesment

Answer 3

Evaluating individual’s to assist in the process of classification and diagnosis and also to act as intervention.

Question 4

Category

Answer 4

Discrete grouping (ex: anxiety disorder)

Question 5

Dimension

Answer 5

An attribute is continuous and can occur to various degrees

Question 6

Interrater Reliability

Answer 6

Whether different diagnosticians use the same category to describe a person’s behaviour.

Question 7

Test-retest reliability

Answer 7

Wether the use of a category is stable over some reasonable period of time.

Question 8

Validity

Answer 8

Diagnosis should give further info on the:

• etiology of the disorder
• course of development the disorder is expected to take
• response to treatments
• additional clinical features of the problem.

Question 9

Clinical utility

Answer 9

Classifications systems are judged based on how complete and useful it is.

Question 10

APA: DSM (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders)

Answer 10

AKA: clinically derived classification - based on consensus of clinicians that certain characteristics occur together :

Top down approaches

Committees of experts propose
concepts of disorders and then choose diagnostic criteria for defining disorders.

It is from these criteria that the development of assessments and evaluations
proceed.

Question 11

Categorical Approach

Answer 11

An idividual either HAS or does NOT have the disorder.

Difference between normal and pathological in a categorical approach is one ‘kind’ rather than one ‘degree’.

Distinctions can be made between qualitively different types of disorders.

Question 12

Comorbidity : co-occurence

Answer 12

When an individual meets criteria for more than one disorder: simultaneous existence of two or more disorders in the same individual

Question 13

Empirical approach to classification

Answer 13

Using statistical techniques to identify patterns of behavior that are interrelated.

Question 14

Syndrome

Answer 14

Describes behaviour that tend to occur simultaneously together

Question 15

Spectrum

Answer 15

Groups of disorders thought to hare certain psychological or biological qualities.

Question 16

Dimension

Answer 16

Quantitative rather than qualitative approach to viewing disorders. Can be adressed using a cross-cutting assessment: adresses areas of clinical importance that are not necessary to the diagnosis of a disroder, but are iportant to the prognosis, treatment planning and treatment outcome.

Question 17

Broadband syndromes

Answer 17

general clusters of behaviour or characteristic

Question 18

Broadband syndrome: Internalizing

Answer 18

Internalizing: overcontrolled/
anxiety-withdrawal.

Descriptions include: anxious, shy, withdrawing, depressed.

Question 19

Broadband syndrome: Externalizing

Answer 19

Externalizing; Under-controlled & conduct disorder.

Descriptions include; Fighting, temper tantrums, disobedience, destructiveness.

Question 20

Anchebach Instruments used to measure two broadband syndromes

Answer 20

6 - 18 years:

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)

The Teacher Report Form (TRF) is a parallel instrument completed by
teachers

11 - 18 years

The Youth Self-Report (YSR) is

Parallel measures for younger children: CBCL 1.5 - 5

and the C-TRF (Caregiver–Teacher
Report Form)

Question 21

Narrowband syndromes

Answer 21

Evaluates each youth for several dimensions of syndromes: gives a score for each (3 categories: internalizing, mixed and externalizing syndromes)

Table : 5.1

Question 22

Normative samples

Answer 22

Frame of reference used in empirically based classifications.

Question 23

Stigmatization

Answer 23

• Negative stereotypes; viewed negatively
• Devaluation: Lead to separation from others and loss of status
• Discrimination; actions that limit the person’s rights & power.

Question 24

Evidence based-assessment

Answer 24

Procedures that rely on empirical evidence and theory to guide their select to and support their validity.

Question 25

The general clinical interview

Answer 25

Information on all areas of functioning is obtained by interviewing the child or
adolescent and various other people in the social environment.

Question 26

Structured diagnostic interviews

Answer 26

More reliable than unstructured interviews

Question 27

Problem Checklists

Question 28

Self report measures

Question 29

Behavioural Observations

Answer 29

Observations can
include reports of;
single, relatively simple, and discrete behaviors of the child; interactions of the child and peers; and complex systems of interactions among
family members.

in either the child’s natural environment or through artificially stimulated environments (clinical/lab) similar to the child’s natural environment.

Question 30

Projective tests

Answer 30

One way the ego deals with unacceptable impulses is
to project them onto some external object. It is assumed that the impulses cannot be expressed directly.

Projective tests present an ambiguous stimulus, allowing the individual to project “unacceptable” thoughts and
impulses, as well as other defense mechanisms onto the stimulus.

Examples:
- Rorschach test: what the person seas in 10 inkblots
(blot: location, colour: determinants, what: content)
-House-tree-Person Technique
- Kinetic family

Question 31

IQ score

Answer 31

Avg: 100
an individual
score reflects how far above/below the avg. person of his or he age n individual has scored.

Question 32

Developmental Index

Answer 32

Special instrumental measures for assessing infants and very young children, yields a performance index.

Question 33

Ability and Achievement Tests

Answer 33

To assess a child’s general intellectual functioning or functioning a particular area.

Question 34

Psychophysiological assessments

Answer 34

Conducted when a child/adolescent’s arousal levels are of concern: physical test measures (ex: muscle tensons, heart rate, respiration rate…).

More common in a research than clinical setting.

Question 35

Neurological Assessment

Answer 35

Directly assesses integrity of the nervous system.

• EEG
• Brain imaging techniques
• MRI
• fMRI
• pet

Question 36

Intervention

Answer 36

Umbrella term for both systematic intervention and treatment of a psychological difficulty.

Question 37

Prevention

Answer 37

Interventions targeting individuals who are not yet experiencing a clinical disorder.

Question 39

Treatment

Answer 39

Interventions for individuals already experiencing clinical levels of some
problem

Question 40

Caplan’s (1964) 3-prong Prevention model

Answer 40

Primary:
- Prevention of disorder onset/specific dysfunction.

Secondary :
- Effort to shorten the duration of existing cases through early referral, diagnosis, and treatment : nipping in the bud strategy.

Tertiary :
- After-the-fact strategy: that aims to reduce problems that are residual to disorders: reduce; minimalize; rehabilitate, avoid relapse.

Question 41

1. Universal prevention strategies

Answer 41

Targeted to entire populations for
which greater than average risk has not been identified in individuals.

Hypothetical examples are encouraging parents to read to their children
to avoid learning problems, and promoting exercise and proper diet to
avoid obesity.

Question 42

2. Selective prevention strategies/High risk prevention strategies

Answer 42

Targeted to individuals who are at higher than average risk for disorder.

Intervention might be directed toward individuals or subgroups with biological risks, high stress, family dysfunction, or
poverty.

Question 43

3. Indicated Prevention Strategies

Answer 43

Targeted to high-risk individuals
who show minimal symptoms or signs forecasting a disorder, or who
have biological markers for a disorder but do not meet the criteria for
the disorder.

Question 44

Anna Freud; Play Therapy

Answer 44

Early psychoanalytic therapists agreed that child patients required a
different mode of treatment than the highly verbal, free association mode used in
adult psychoanalysis.