Dysfunctional Behaviour - Diagnosis Of Dysfunctional Behaviour

Question 1

What is ICD-10?

Answer 1

A manual published by the World Health Organisation which is used in many countries to diagnose physical and mental conditions. Act disorder has a description of the main features and any important associated features. The diagnostic section indicates how many of each feature and the balance required are needed to make a accurate diagnosis. Each disorder is given a code and some of the categories are specific to childhood or developmental disorders whereas others are applicable to both children and adults.

Question 2

What is DSM-IV?

Answer 2

The main diagnostic tool used on the USA. It used axises, Axis 1 - clinical disorders and Axis 2 - personality disorders. Once one is picked the patient’s general physical condition is considered, plus any social and environmental problems. This is then used to assess the the patients functioning on a scale of 1 to 100.

Question 3

What are some categories of ICD-10?

Answer 3

• dementia
• schizophrenia
• personality disorders

Question 4

What are some classifications of DSM-IV?

Answer 4

• learning disorders
• dementia
• sleep disorders

Question 5

What was the study on categorising disorders?

Answer 5

ICD-10 and DSM-IV

Question 6

What was the study on definitions of dysfunctional behaviour?

Answer 6

Rosenhan and Seligman

Question 7

What are the 4 criteria in Rosenhan and Seligman’s study?

Answer 7

1. Statistical infrequency
2. Deviation from social norms
3. Failure to function adequately
4. Deviation from ideal mental health

Question 8

What is statistical infrequency in Rosenhan and Seligman’s study?

Answer 8

‘Abnormality’ would refer to any behaviour that is not seen very often in society. However it is difficult to use on its own (as it may encompass behaviour such as an exceptionally high IQ). Other behaviours which are restarted as abnormal might be quite common, such as substance abuse, but it could be argued that this illness is ‘abnormal’. There has to be more to it than just numbers.

Question 9

What is deviation from social norms in Rosenhan and Seligman’s study?

Answer 9

If society does not approve of a behaviour then it is dysfunctional. However, this will make some behaviours dysfunctional in some cultures and not in others. In western society we may consider women who wear trousers as normal but this is not the case in every culture. It also has a sense of ‘rightness’, in that what society says is right and everyone else is wrong. If this was the case, societies would not be changed by forward thinking people.

Question 10

What is failure to function adequately in Rosenhan and Seligman’s study?

Answer 10

If a person is not functioning in a way that enables them to live independently in society then they are ‘dysfunctional’. There are several ways a person might not be functioning well such as behaviour that distresses the person experiencing it or that makes someone observing feel uncomfortable, unpredictable behaviour or irrational behaviour. There are problems in that the context of the behaviour may influence our view of it. It can be quite a subjective view as to whether a person is not functioning adequately.

Question 11

What is deviation from ideal mental health in Rosenhan and Seligman’s study?

Answer 11

Have a positive view of yourself, be capable of some personal growth, be independent and self regulating, have an accurate view of reality, be resistant to stress, be able to adapt to your environment. However there is a problem with culture bias and the subjective view of the clinician as to where the person has ideal mental health.

Question 12

What was the study on biases in diagnosis?

Answer 12

Ford and Widiger

Question 13

What was the aim of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 13

To find out if clinicians were stereotyping genders when diagnosing disorders

Question 14

What was the method of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 14

A self report where health practitioners were given scenarios and asked to make diagnoses based on the information. The IV was the bend of the patient in the case study and the DV was the diagnosis made by the clinician.

Question 15

Who were the participants in Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 15

354 clinical psychologists from 1127 randomly selected from the national register in 1983, with a mean of 15.6 years clinical experience; 266 psychologists responded to the case histories.

Question 16

What was the design of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 16

An independent design as each participant was given a male, female or sex-unspecified case study.

Question 17

What was the procedure of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 17

Participants were randomly provided with one of nine case histories. Case studies of patients with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) or histrionic personality disorder (HPD) or an equal balance of symptoms from both disorders were given to each therapist. They were asked to diagnose the illness in each case study by rating on a seven point scale the extent to which the patient appeared to have each of nine disorders (including the above and alcohol abuse & narcissistic, etc)

Question 18

What were the findings of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 18

Sex-unspecified case histories were diagnosed most often with borderline personality disorder. ASPD was correctly diagnosed 42% of the time in males and 15% in females. Females with ASPD were misdiagnosed with HPD 46% of the time, whereas males were only misdiagnosed with HPD 15% of the time. HPD was correctly diagnosed in 76% of females and 44% of males.

Question 19

What were the conclusions of Ford and Widiger’s study?

Answer 19

Practitioners are biased by stereotypical views of genders, as there was a clear tendency to diagnose females with HPD even when their case histories were of ASPD. There was also a tendency not to diagnose males with HPD, although this was not as great as the misdiagnosis of women. The characteristics of HPD may be considered by some clinicians to be gender specific, and so any behaviour that fits these criteria leads more readily to a diagnosis of a ‘female typical’ disorder.

Question 20

What was the study on categorising disorders?

Answer 20

ICD-10 and DSM-IV