Diagnosis and Assessment

Question 1

Reliability

Answer 1

consistency of measurement

good example: a wooden ruler that produces the same measurements each time it’s used.

bad example: flexible ruler whose length changes.

Question 2

Inter-rater reliability

Answer 2

refers to the degree to which two independent observers agree on what they have observed

example: two umpires may or may not agree as to whether the ball is fair or foul.

Question 3

Tets-retest reliability

Answer 3

measures the extent to which people being observed twice or taking the same test twice, perhaps several weeks or months apart, receive similar scores

Question 4

Alternate-form reliability

Answer 4

the extent to which scores on the two forms of the test are consistent.

Question 5

Internal-consistency reliability

Answer 5

assesses whether the items on a test are related to one another.

example: one would expect the items on an anxiety questionnaire to correlate with one another if they truly tap anxiety

Question 6

Validity

Answer 6

generally related to whether a measure measures what it is supposed to measure.

Question 7

What is the relationship between reliability and validity?

Answer 7

Unreliable measures will not have good validity. Because they do not yield consistent results, they will not relate very strongly to other measures.

Reliability, however, does not guarantee validity.

Question 8

Criterion validity

Answer 8

assesses whether test scores are correlated with scores on other tests designed to assess the same dimension

example: scores on a new test designed to assess social anxiety ought to correlate with scores on other tests designed to measure social anxiety

Question 9

Content validity

Answer 9

refers to whether a measure adequately samples the domain of interest.

example: a test to assess social anxiety ought to include items that cover feelings of anxiety in different social situations.

Question 10

Construct validity

Answer 10

It is relevant when we want to interpret a test as a measure of some characteristic or construct that is not observed directly or overtly.

Question 11

Diagnosis

Answer 11

The determination that the set of symptoms or problems of a patient indicates a particular disorder.

Question 12

DSM 5

Answer 12

The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM provides the major diagnostic guidelines for mental health syndromes in the United States. Published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Question 13

How does the DSM 5 organize diagnoses?

Answer 13

By identifying symptoms.

we have no laboratory tests, neurobiological markers, or genetic indicators to use in making diagnoses

Question 14

How has the DSM 5 addressed cultural sensitivity?

Answer 14

• Culture-related issues are discussed in the text for almost all disorders.
• A cultural formulation interview is provided to help understand how culture may be shaping the clinical presentation.
• An appendix describes cultural concepts of distress, culturally specific ways of expressing distress, and cultural explanations of symptoms

Question 15

Criticisms of the DSM 5

Answer 15

1. By expanding coverage, the authors have made too many problems into psychological disorders without good justification.
2. It includes too many minute distinctions based on small differences in symptoms.

Question 16

comorbidity

Answer 16

refers to the presence of a second diagnosis.

Among people who met criteria for at least one DSM-IV psychological diagnosis, 45% met criteria for at least one more psychological diagnosis

Question 17

Advantages of lumping symptoms together

Answer 17

1. Accounts for high comorbidity, as some symptoms appear in more than one diagnostic category
2. Many risk factors relate to more than one disorder
3. Many treatments are helpful for multiple disorders.

Question 18

What are broad types of characteristics that a valid diagnosis should help predict?

Answer 18

etiology, course, social functioning, treatment

Question 19

2 Approaches to Diagnostic Systems

Answer 19

1. HiTOP model (short for Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology)
2. Research Domain Criteria, or RDoC

Question 20

HiTOP model

Answer 20

Focuses on how symptoms and syndromes co-occur.

with this model, syndromes that frequently co-occur are assembled into subfactors, and subfactors are assembled into higher-order dimensions

Question 21

Research Domain Criteria, or RDoC

Answer 21

Focus on risk variables relevant for many conditions;

such as problems in responses to negative stimuli or contexts, problems in responses to positive stimuli or contexts, cognitive problems, social problems, and lack of ability to regulate emotion or behavior.

Question 22

categorical classification

Answer 22

An approach to assessment in which a person is or is not a member of a discrete grouping

Question 23

dimensional diagnostic classification

Answer 23

A diagnostic system that describes the degree of an entity that is present (e.g., a 1-to-10 scale of anxiety, where 1 represents minimal and 10, extremely severe).

Question 24

pros and cons of categorical classification

Answer 24

Although the cutoffs are likely somewhat arbitrary, they can provide helpful guidance.

This fosters a false impression that psychological disorders have actual, hard boundaries.