classification systems for diagnosing mental disorders

Question 1

what is a classification system?

Answer 1

a checklist of signs / symptoms which help a clinician reach a diagnosis of a specific disorder, often by process of elimination

Question 2

describe what is meant by the medical model of abnormality

Answer 2

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

Question 3

describe one s and one w of MMA

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

what is the DSM?

Answer 4

*diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
*published by american psychiatric society
*provides criteria to diagnose a mental disorder

Question 5

what was the DSM developed for?

Answer 5

in response to the need for a census of mental health disorders

Question 6

define ‘neurosis’

Answer 6

behaviour falls outside of normal functioning but the individual is aware that they are ill

Question 7

define ‘psychosis’

Answer 7

individual has lost touch with reality

Question 8

why do revisions of the DSM take place?

Answer 8

due to new research
- eg rosenhan’s study highlighted lack of validity in diagnosing mental illness

Question 9

summarise the 3 sections of the DSM

Answer 9

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

Question 10

what is the ICD?

Answer 10

international statistical classification of diseases
- looks at general health
- monitors incidence and prevalence
- includes physical and mental disorders

Question 11

describe how the ICD is organised

Answer 11

groups each disorder into a family
each section has leftover codes so new disorders can be added

Question 12

explain how the ICD is helpful for clinicians

Answer 12

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

Question 13

state 4 similarities between the ICD and DSM

Answer 13

*both are diagnostic manuals
*info on mental disorders
*same definition and symptoms of depression
*both intended to be used by qualified health professionals

Question 14

state 5 differences between the ICD and DSM

Answer 14

*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

Question 15

describe how the ICD is used as a classification system for mental health (4)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

how is reliability of diagnosis classification systems assessed?

Answer 16

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