DSM system Flashcards
How are diagnositics made using the DSM system
- Information is gathered from unstructed interviews and observations
- Disorders that do not match the symptoms of the patient are ruled out.
- Doctors decide which disorder offers the ‘best fit’
How quickly can complicated vs non-complicated disorders take to diagnose using DSM-5 system
Uncomplicated: about 10-20 minutes
Complicated: up to several months
What is a strength of the reliability
Field experiments have showed that theres high levels of agreements betwen clinicians for a variety of disorders
Strength of reliability: Give an example of this
Reggier et al showed 3 disorders had keppa values of 0.60-0.79 (very good) and 7 others had values of 0.40-0.59 (good)
Strength of reliability: What does this show
Shows clinicians have adapted well to the constant changing system
What is a weakness for reliability of the DSM system
What counts as acceptable levels of agreement has plummeted over the last 35 years
Weakness of reliability: Evidence to back this
Cooper et al (2014) showed that the DSM-5 task force classified levels as low as 0.2-0.4 as acceptable.
What was the least reliable diagnosis in this study
Major depressive disorder (MDD) with 0.28
Weakness of reliability: What does this suggest about the DSM
Diagnosis of MDD may have been an error showing the low reliability of this classification system
Strength of validity of the DSM system
Evidence supports the validity of certain disorders
Strength of validity: Evidence of this
Kim-Cohen et al 2005 - tested existing validity of conduct disorder (CD) by interviewing children and their mothers.
Strength of validity: What did Kim-Cohen et al’s study find?
Specific risk factors like low income were common with people with CD, suggesting aetiological validity.
Strength of validity: Why is this important?
Accurate diagnostics can reduce adults mental health problems
What is a weakness of validity of the DSM system?
Many psychologists feel DSM system lacks validity as they claim diagnosis tells us nothings about the disorder.
weakness of validity: Why do they psychologists claim this is the case?
Labelling/ diagnosing someone with this doesn’t tell us about the causes of the mental illness.
