Classification Of Schizophrenia

Question 1

Strength of diagnosis

Answer 1

Good reliability- osorio reported excellent reliability for diagnosis of 180 individuals using the DSM-5
Pairs of interviewers archived inter rater reliability of +97 and test retest of +92
This means that we can be reasonably sure that diagnosis is consistently applied

Question 2

weakness- comorbidity

Answer 2

if conditions occur together frequently then it calls for concern over the validity of the diagnosis or classification system because they might just be one condition.
according to Buckley 50% of people with schizophrenia have depression and 47% have substance abuse issues

Question 3

weakness- gender bias

Answer 3

existence of gender bias
since 80s more men have been diagnosed with sz than women
one explanation is that women are less vunerable to men due to genetics. however it is more likely that women are undiagnosed because they form stronger relationships and therefore recieve support so seem to be functioning better than men and dont recieve therpay or treatment.

Question 4

culture bias

Answer 4

some symptoms particularly hearing voices are common in some cultures for example in haiti people are more likely to hear voices of ancestors as it is normalised and even celebrated in there cultures
british people of african carribean origin are 9times more likley to get falsely diagnosed that white british

Question 5

symptom overlap

Answer 5

there is significant symptom overlap with other conditions
there is considerable overlap between symptoms of sz and other disorders
eg avolition prevalent in both sz and depression.