Definition and Classification I

Question 1

What is the DSM-5’s aim?

Answer 1

To aid with diagnosis and treatment.

Question 2

The classification system in the DSM-5 attempts to be an aid to what (apart from diagnosis and treatment)?

Answer 2

It attempts to be an aid for science and scientific research.

Question 3

Although the DSM-5 aims to aid with diagnosis, treatment and the progression of scientific study, what needs to be understood?

Answer 3

That attempting to aid all these things creates confusion within the DSM system.

Question 4

What do scientific definitions define?

Answer 4

What it is to be that ‘kind’ of thing.

Question 5

A scientific definition is an answer to the question:

Answer 5

what is it? OR what kind of thing is it?

Question 6

What ‘kind’/type of things might scientific definitions define?

Answer 6

• a kind of substance.
• a kind of process.
• a kind of behaviour.
• a type of cognition.
• a kind of emotion.
• a type of effect/phenomenon.
• a psychological disorder.

Question 7

In terms of mental disorders, what questions are scientific definitions answering?

Answer 7

what is it to be that kind of disorder OR what kind/type of disorder is it?

Question 8

Scientific definitions of mental disorders are NOT what (a type of definition)?

Answer 8

They are NOT operational definitions.

Question 9

Who introduced the first account of scientific definitions?

Answer 9

It was first introduced by Socrates and then developed by Aristotle.

Question 10

So, what exactly IS a scientific definition? What comprises a scientific definition?

Answer 10

A scientific definition describes the ‘kind’s’ essential or defining conditions/features.

Question 11

When are you defining a particular type of mental disorder, what are you describing?

Answer 11

That mental disorder’s essential conditions/features.

Question 12

Once a mental disorder has been scientifically defined, what is necessary for it to exist?

Answer 12

The essential features/conditions are the necessary characteristics of the mental disorder, without which it would not be the kind that it is. (e.g., it has them necessarily).

Question 13

When differentiating between ‘kind X’ and ‘kind Y’, the essential features/conditions indicate:

Answer 13

What it is that makes ‘kind X’ not ‘kind Y’.

Question 14

One can be a genus and a species at the same time. What is the difference?

Answer 14

Genus is the more general term, species is the more specific term but they are relative to one another.

Question 15

For example, water is a kind of substance. But what kind of substance? How do we scientifically define it?

Answer 15

By finding the essential features/conditions that make water the kind it is. Those features are: the binding of 1 oxygen atom with 2 hydrogen atoms, without which the kind would not be the kind that it is.

Question 16

In the example of water as a kind of substance. Sometimes it contains calcium atoms, is this a defining feature of water?

Answer 16

No, because if you remove the calcium you still have water. It is not a defining feature.

Question 17

If calcium is not a defining feature of water, what kind of feature is it?

Answer 17

An accompanying feature.

Question 18

What is the genus in terms of scientific definition? What is the species in terms of scientific definition?

Answer 18

The genus tells us what KIND it is, the species is more specific. It gives the essential features that differentiate that kind.

Question 19

When you have necessary features is EVERY sample of that kind, what do you call that kind?

Answer 19

A monothetic kind.

Question 20

What is a monothetic kind?

Answer 20

A monothetic kind has, in every sample, the necessary unique set of features that make the kind what it is.

Question 21

What is the opposite of a monothetic kind?

Answer 21

A polythetic kind.

Question 22

What is a polythetic kind?

Answer 22

A polythetic kind has no one single feature or condition that appears in every sample of the kind.

Question 23

Give an example of a (believed) polythetic kind.

Answer 23

‘Vulnerability’ because research suggests that there is no one single feature or condition that appear in every sample of that kind.

Question 24

Give an example of a (believed) polythetic kind.

Answer 24

‘Vulnerability’ because research suggests that there is no one single feature (or unique set of features) that appear in every sample of that kind.

Question 25

In terms of the real world, what is the difference between a monothetic kind vs. a polythetic kind (or concept)?

Answer 25

A monothetic kind is something that exists out there (real kind), whereas a polythetic kind (or concept) may or may not exist.

Question 26

What is the other word for a polythetic kind?

Answer 26

A concept.

Question 27

What is the difference between the concepts of ‘water’ and ‘vulnerability’?

Answer 27

Water = refers to a real kind.
Vulnerability = may not refer to a real kind.

Question 28

Why can we (sort of) understand what the concept of ‘vulnerability’ is then if there are no defining features (or unique sets of features)?

Answer 28

Because there may be a pattern. There may be features that appear commonly but are not in every case.

Question 29

Why is it important to find a ‘real’ kind/ monothetic kind?

Answer 29

Because it can be used in theories and models to explain and predict various phenomena. This is genuine science and is a launching point for future scientific knowledge.

Question 30

What is genuine science vs. pseudoscience?

Answer 30

Genuine science uses ‘real kinds’ to make explanations, predictions, models or theories. Without a ‘real kind’ it is pseudoscience because it may or may not exist.

Question 31

In terms of scientific research, what can polythetic kinds NOT be?

Answer 31

They cannot be the launching pad for future research because you do not know if that concept even exists.

Question 32

In a polythetic kind, if there are consistent patterns (of features) across different situations, what kind of research is that grounds for?

Answer 32

Figuring out what features are needed to make it a genuine kind. Differentiate between necessary features and accompanying features.

Question 33

What is one of the mental disorders in the DSM-5 that actually has a scientific definition?

Answer 33

Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Question 34

The scientists behind the development of Dissociative Identity Disorder provided the genus and species, what are they?

Answer 34

Genus: type of disorder, (dissociative identity).
Species: the differentia as two essential conditions (the presence of two or more distinct personality states AND recurrent episodes of amnesia).

Question 35

If we assume that the essential features of Dissociative Identity Disorder exist, that means what?

Answer 35

That there is a genuine disorder out there and every case is the same as it has those two features.

Question 36

10 years ago, there was a call for Dissociative Identity Disorder to NOT be defined by the two essential features. What reasons were put forward against it being a monothetic disorder?

Answer 36

They were clinical and pragmatic reasons, not scientific. The main reason was that this scientific definition is of no help to clinicians, it doesn’t provide diagnostic criteria (the symptoms that may or may not be present).

Question 37

What is the science vs. clinician tension that permeates the DSM-5?

Answer 37

That there is a need to scientifically define mental disorders (for future research) vs. the need for unessential features that help with diagnosis.

Question 38

Most mental disorders in the DSM-5 are what kinds of disorders?

Answer 38

They are polythetic disorders. They have diagnostic criteria that are unessential in every person presenting with symptoms. Meaning different individuals with the same disorder can present with a completely different set of symptoms.

Question 39

A really important point to remember is that diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 do not - what?

Answer 39

The diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 do not define the disorder.
They are distinct from the monothetic defining conditions.

Question 40

What is the problem with the mental disorders in the DSM-5 being polythetic?

Answer 40

Because it implies a contradiction: ‘Y’ may consists of ABCD, or it may not.
So then, what the heck is ‘Y’
Cannot rest science or research on contradictions.

Question 41

What is a disjunctive predicate in terms of a polythetic kind?

Answer 41

It means that there is no real kind. It is that kind ‘Y’ may be this, or that, or that, or that.
Scientific question: what is ‘Y’, it is either Y1, Y2, Y3, or Y4.

Question 42

What is wrong with having disjunctive predicates in the DSM-5?

Answer 42

You can’t rest science on the idea that Y could be Y1 or Y2 or Y3 or Y4. Cannot rest science on the idea that there is no real ‘Y’.

Question 43

While polythetic kinds are no help at all for science, where are they useful?

Answer 43

They may be useful in terms of diagnostic criteria.

Question 44

The future DSM’s may shift to ‘dimensional’ criteria. Why are they wanting to this and why is this a problem for society?

Answer 44

They want to shift because diagnostic criteria appear across many disorders… BUT they are not defining conditions