classification systems for diagnosing mental disorders Flashcards
what is a classification system?
a checklist of signs / symptoms which help a clinician reach a diagnosis of a specific disorder, often by process of elimination
describe what is meant by the medical model of abnormality
bio approach which assumes that abnormal behaviour is caused by a physical illness. also believes that the most appropriate treatment for mental disorders is bio eg drug treatment
describe one s and one w of MMA
One strength is that MMA groups symptoms together and classifies them into syndromes so that their cause can be discovered and appropriately treated. this is a strength as it’s a scientific and objective approach to diagnosis.
Whereas classification of physical illness’ req objective symptoms, mental illness’ are more subjective eg feelings. These cannot easily be measured so clinician must have to make a judgement based on exp reducing validity.
The medical model was heavily criticised by anti-psychiatry movement. For example authors such as Thomas Szaz suggested psychiatric symptoms might just be an understandable reaction to coping with a sick society. They were also worried about the power of psychiatrists to detain and treat people, mental hospitals act as a prison where people could be removed from society.
what is the DSM?
-diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
-published by american psychiatric society
-provides criteria to diagnose a mental disorder
what was the DSM developed for?
in response to the need for a census of mental health disorders
define ‘neurosis’
behaviour falls outside of normal functioning but the individual is aware that they are ill
define ‘psychosis’
individual has lost touch with reality
why do revisions of the DSM take place?
due to new research
- eg rosenhan’s study highlighted lack of validity in diagnosing mental illness
summarise the 3 sections of the DSM
1 - explains organisation and new changes
2 - diagnostic criteria and codes
3 - measures/models regarding future of diagnoses, categories which require more research to be added to section 2
what is the ICD?
international statistical classification of diseases
- looks at general health
- monitors incidence and prevalence
- includes physical and mental disorders
describe how the ICD is organised
groups each disorder into a family
each section has leftover codes so new disorders can be added
explain how the ICD is helpful for clinicians
coding allows clinicians to go from general to specific and convey their diagnosis systematically
guides diagnosis through a clinical interview: details of symptoms, severity and duration
state 4 similarities between the ICD and DSM
*both are diagnostic manuals
*info on mental disorders
*same definition and symptoms of depression
*both intended to be used by qualified health professionals
state 5 differences between the ICD and DSM
*DSM used in US, ICD worldwide
*ICD contains physical and mental illnesses
*DSM is not multilingual
*DSM is revised every 5 years
*ICD is intended for use by all health practitioners
describe how the ICD is used as a classification system for mental health (4)
diagnostic system with info on physical and mental illnesses, used by healthcare professionals to diagnose
used globally and splits disorders into categories, professionals look at appropriate section depending on what client presents
provides features and symptoms for each disorder to help diagnose
eg ICD 10 states that paranoid schizophrenia is dominated by relatively stable, paranoid delusions and hallucination
how is reliability of diagnosis classification systems assessed?
cohen’s kappa
- statistic written as decimal
- refers to proportion of people who receive same diagnosis when assessed at a later time or by an alternative practitioner
- 0.7 = good agreement
summarise some of the changes made to the DSM
axes removed as critics said these made it hard to link different symptoms
unnecessary diagnoses removed eg autistic spectrum disorder became just 1 category (subtypes merged)
reflection of social change eg awareness of cultural differences
reflection of phrasing eg mental retardation to intellectual disability
