Reliability And Validity Of Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia Flashcards
What are the two main classification systems for diagnosing schizophrenia?
DSM-5 and ICD-10
What does the reliability of schizophrenia diagnosis refer to?
How consistently schizophrenia is diagnosed
How should schizophrenia diagnosis be reliable?
Different clinicians using the same system (e.g. DSM) should arrive at the same diagnosis for every individual (inter observer reliability)
How does Jakobsen et al show the reliability of diagnosis of schizophrenia?
100 danish patients were diagnosed according to the ICD-10 - found a 98% concordance rate among psychiatrists
What is a limitation of the reliability of diagnosis of schizophrenia? (Co-morbidity)
People with schizophrenia often suffer from other psychological disorders too - more difficult to confidently diagnose schizophrenia (symptoms can overlap or those of 1 condition may be more noticeable) - can lead to misdiagnosis/wrong treatment
Which study supports the issue of gender bias in the reliability of diagnosis of schizophrenia, and what was the procedure?
Loring and Powell - 290 male & female psychiatrists read case studies of patients’ behaviour made a judgment using standardised criteria
What were the findings of Loring and Powell’s study?
When patients were described as ‘male’ or no info about gender was given, 56% of psychiatrists gave a schizophrenia diagnosis.
When patients were described as ‘female’, only 20% gave a schizophrenia diagnosis
What does the validity of diagnosis of schizophrenia refer to?
How accurately schizophrenia is diagnosed
How does the low validity of schizophrenia diagnosis affect people?
Unsuitable treatments may be administered (sometimes on an involuntary basis), which raises practical and ethical issues
Which study questions the validity of schizophrenia diagnosis and what was the procedure?
Rosenhan (1973) - 8 healthy volunteers (i.e. people that didn’t have schizophrenia) presented themselves to various psychiatric hospitals claiming to hear voices.
What were the findings of Rosenhan (1973)?
All 8 volunteers were successfully admitted to the hospitals and diagnosed with schizophrenia. Depending on the ‘patient’, doctors took between 7-52 days to release them.
What do the findings of Rosenhan (1973) suggest?
That the doctors did not have valid methods for diagnosing schizophrenia
