Validity Flashcards
what is validity?
validity is whether the classification system is actually measuring what it aims to measure
descriptive validity
how similar individuals diagnosed with the disorder are
aetiological validity
how similar the cause of the disorder is for each sufferer
predictive validity
how useful the diagnostic categories are for predicting the right treatment
key study for validity
Rosenhan (1973)
what did Rosenhan (1973) do?
he made normal people get themselves admitted to a mental hospital but acted normal once they were in
what were these fake patients called?
pseudopatients
even though the pseudopatients acted normally, what happened?
their actions were seen as a symptom of their disorders
when one patient wrote in an diary, what was it called?
“writing behaviour”
what is the conclusion for Rosenhan’s study?
when someone is labelled as having a disorder, all of their actions and behaviour can be interpreted as being part of the condition
what other problem is there for the validity of diagnosis?
symptom overlap
what’s the problem with symptom overlap
a lot of conditions have the same symptoms as schizophrenia
what other conditions have the same symptoms as schizophrenia?
depression
what problems does symptom overlap cause?
difficulty in determining what condition someone has
