Classification of Mental Disorders Flashcards
how many people have a mental disorder in australia?
roughly 20% of Australian population have a mental disorder including substance disorder
what is a burden of disease?
how much does a certain condition contribute to taking someone’s power of work, and/or early death.
who is emile kraeplin?
grandfather of classification, defined 15 categories of mental disorders in 1883. he most famously separated schizophrenia from manic depression.
why should mental disorders be classified at all?
- provides common vocabulary across psychologists
- provides a guide for treatment
- can be used in legal settings
what are some disadvantages of classifying mental disorders?
- Stigma
- Changes in self-concept
- Insurance problems
what is the categorical approach?
disorders are placed in specific groups. it is based on meeting criteria or not meeting criteria.
- uses the DSM –> there are 22 diagnostic categories
- it is constantly changing
what are the limitations of the categorical approach?
Including a disorder in the DSM makes people believe that the disorder is real (factual).
- this can encourage people to ignore overlap between disorders
Constantly making new categories for each new disorder can lessen the value of the category.
- potential internet gaming disorder
Categories don’t always match reality.
- IQ example
what is the dimensional approach?
people differ along a continuum, how much rather than either/or, mental disorders can be described along a number of symptom dimensions
share some examples of the dimensional approach:
the fatigue item (scale for depression) - how tired are you from 0-3
MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) - 10 dimensions of psychopathology, paranoia etc
what are the limitations of the dimensional approach?
- culture differences, susceptibility to bias
- with so many dimensions it can become too large and difficult to function (wieldy), it can show a full amount of understanding but perhaps not the most meaningful and important
- no common vocabulary
- does knowing the severity of the disorder impact a treatment plan all the time?
compare the advantages of categorical and dimensional approaches:
categorical
- common vocabulary, aids in communication
- provides guide for treatment and prognosis
dimensional
- closer to reality
- doesn’t require arbitrary distinctions between normality and abnormality
What does a treatment have to consider for it to be a transdiagnostic approach?
- understanding interaction between biological, social and lifespan factors to identify multiple dimensions
- study of biological processes and behaviour that are part of interpersonal and sociocultural milieu
- from genes and cells to human behaviour
- not for immediate clinical use
- will take many years of research before it will influence classification
- objective laboratory measure, rather than clinical symptoms because it takes more than a judgement on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever to determine the best choice of treatment
RDOC - research domain criteria associated with the transdiagnostic dimensions:
- Negative valence - acute threat “fear”, potential threat anxiety, sustained threat, loss, frustrative non-reward
- Positive valence - approach motivation, initial responsiveness to reward, sustained responsiveness to reward, reward learning, habit
- Cognitive - attention, perception, memory, cognitive control
- Social - affiliation & attachment, socal communication, perception and self, perception and others
- Arousal & regulation - circadian rhythms, arousal, sleep & wakefulness
