WCS41 Classification And Diagnosis Of Psychiatric Illness Flashcards
History taking
- Open-ended question in history taking
- Avoid close-ended questions
- Ask patient to elaborate
- Focus 1 symptom at a time
- Following diagnostic criteria e.g. DSM
Subjective experiences
- “Measurable” by clinical interview / self-report
—> Type
—> Severity
—> Duration
—> Clinical significance (how it affect daily life) - Adopt a “time-frame” for assessment e.g. in the past week
Type of symptoms
- Abnormal experiences and behaviours
- Hallucination, Delusion, Disorganised speech, Catatonia - Normal experiences but excessive in amount
- Anhedonia, depressed mood, excessive worries, obsession and compulsion, flashbacks of traumatic events
- Excessive, irrational, and uncontrollable - Impaired functioning
- impaired cognitive functioning after traumatic brain injury
- impaired social functioning e.g. deficits in social-emotional reciprocity in ASD - Impaired attention
- ADHD - Impaired physiology
- impaired sleep e.g. insomnia, hypersomnia, circadian sleep-wake disorder
- impaired sex and gender function e.g. gender dysphoria, ED
- impaired eating
- impaired experience of pain and somatic symptoms
- impaired elimination e.g. enuresis - Behavioural disturbances
- addiction, including non-substances
- impulse-control - Personality disorder
Pros and Cons of classification
Pros:
- Bring order to great diversity of phenomena encountered in clinical practice
- Identify groups of patients with similar clinical features —> suitable treatment can be planned and likely outcome predicted
- Able to develop a standardised approach in diagnosis
Cons:
- labelling and stigmatisation
- benign labels may lead to misunderstanding of severity and treatment
- diagnostic term can have different meaning to different people
- distracts from understanding the problem unique to the individual
- some patients have mixture of disorder
- some patients cannot fit into a particular category i.e. Not Otherwise Specified
Good classification system
- High validity
- limited evidence that different disorders have distinct qualities
- current system depend heavily on subjective experiences and is based on clinical observation
- system is valid for most cases except sometimes there are overlap - High reliability
- clearer criteria —> higher reliability
- there may be diagnostic disagreement between raters since diagnosis depends on identification of S/S (i.e. there are information and diagnostic variance) - Easy to use
- Applicable across settings and cultures (e.g. GP, specialties settings)
- Meet the needs of various users
Incorrect diagnosis
Causes:
- Incomplete / different information obtained in interview
- lack of rapport and trust
- feigned / exaggerated symptoms
- inconsistency / denial
- lack of informants
- inadequate interviewing technique (can be improved by training / use of structured interview) - Inadequate use of diagnostic criteria
- Wrong interpretation of information
- Interviewers may differ in which is more important if 2 categories are both met
Solution:
- Elaboration
- Clarification
- Collateral information collection
- Longitudinal assessment
Screening tools
- PHQ-9
- MDQ
- Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient
2 most commonly used classification systems in psychiatry care
- DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder)
- definitions mostly descriptive
- theoretical statements are avoided
- etiology included only when clearly demonstrable
- Multi-axial (5 axis: 1-5) to explain a mental illness
—> Axis 1: Clinical disorders
—> Axis 2 : Personality disorders
—> Axis 3: General medical conditions
—> Axis 4: Psychosocial and environmental problems
—> Axis 5: Global assessment of functioning - ICD (International Classification of Diseases)
Common elements of diagnostic criteria
- Cluster of symptoms
- Core symptoms (major depressive disorder, depressed mood, loss of interest)
- Associated symptoms (sleep disturbance, reduced appetite, suicidal idea) - Minimal duration of symptoms (usually duration >1 month)
- Distress / Impairment in functioning
- Exclusion criteria
Comorbidity in psychiatry
Example: Bipolar - personality disorder - eating disorder - ADHD - sleep disorder - anxiety disorder - substance use disorder
Diagnostic criteria of Schizophrenia
Characteristic symptoms:
- > =2 of following
- each present for a significant portion of time during a ***1 month period (or less if successfully treated):
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Disorganised speech (e.g. frequent derailment / incoherence)
- Grossly disorganised / Catatonic behaviour
- Negative symptoms i.e. affective flattening (情感扁平化), alogia (poor thinking inferred from speech), avolition (lack of motivation)
Social / Occupational dysfunction:
- significant proportion of time
- > =1 major areas of functioning e.g. work, interpersonal relations, self-care markedly below level before onset
Duration: >=6 months
Exclusion: Schizoaffective, Mood disorder, Substance / General medical condition
Mood disorders
Depressive disorders
- Single / Recurrent episodes
- Dysthymia (persistent mild depression)
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Bipolar disorders
- manic / hypomanic / mixed and depressive episodes
(—> Manic: abnormally + persistently elevated / irritable mood
1. Grandiosity
2. **Decreased need for sleep
3. **Intensified speech
4. **Racing thoughts
5. Increased in goal-directed activity / **Psychomotor agitation
6. Excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high-risk consequence
7. Distractibility
—> Hypomanic: similar but less intense to manic)
- manic / hypomanic / mixed episodes usually last ***1 week
- depressive episodes can last for ***weeks / months
- usually symptoms free during inter-episode period
- Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia
Diagnostic criteria of Major Depressive Disorder
Characteristic symptoms:
- > =5 following present during same ***2 week period
- clear change from previous functioning
- > =1 symptoms has to be **Depressed mood / **Loss of interest, pleasure
- Can have ***Seasonal pattern
- Depressed mood most of day
- ***Marked diminished interest / pleasure in all activities
- ***Significant weight loss
- ***Insomnia / Hypersomnia
- Psychomotor retardation / agitation
- Fatigue / ***Loss of energy almost everyday
- Feeling of worthlessness / excessive guilt
- ***Diminished ability to think / concentrate
- Recurrent thoughts of death
- Symptoms do not meet criteria for ***Bipolar mixed episode
- Symptoms cause clinically significant distress / impairment in social, occupational, other important areas of functioning
- Symptoms are NOT due to direct physiological effects of a substance / general medical condition
- Symptoms are NOT better accounted for by bereavement (persist for >= 2 months)
Anxiety disorders
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Social phobia
- Specific phobia
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Selective mutism
- Anxiety disorder substance-induced / another medical condition
- OS / US anxiety disorder
Diagnostic criteria of Generalised Anxiety Disorder
- Excessive anxiety and worry occurring **more days than not for **>= 6 months, about a number of events / activities
- Difficult to control the worry
- Anxiety and worry are associated with >=3 of following:
- Restlessness / Feeling keyed up / on edge
- Easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating / mind going blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep disturbance
- Clinically significant distress / impairment in functioning
- Disturbance are not due to substance / general medical condition
Diagnostic criteria for Panic disorder
Discrete period of ***intense fear / discomfort, in which >=4 of following developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 mins: 1. Palpitations 2. Sweating 3. Trembling / Shaking 4. Sensations of SOB 5. Feeling of choking 6. Chest pain / discomfort Etc.
Recurrent unexpected attacks for >=1 month
Feeding and Eating Disorders
- Anorexia nervosa (significantly low BMI and fat phobia)
- Bulimia nervosa (repeated binge eating and fat phobia)
- Binge-eating disorder
- Pica
- Rumination disorder (regurgitation of food)
- Avoidant / Restrictive food intake disorder
- OS / US feeding and eating disorder
Diagnostic criteria for Anorexia nervosa
- Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements
—> significantly low BW - Intense fear of gaining weight / becoming fat / persistent behaviour that interferes with weight gain
- Disturbance in the way which BW / shape is experienced, undue influence of BW / shape on self-evaluation / persistent lack of recognition of seriousness of current low BW
- ***3 months
- Mild BMI >=17, Moderate 16-16.99, Severe 15-15.99, Extreme <15
- Restricting and binge-eating / purging type
Sleep-wake Disorders
6 major types
1. Insomnia disorder
2. Parasomnias (e.g. sleepwalking)
3. Hypersomnolence disorder / Narcolepsy
4. Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder (e.g. delayed sleep-wake phase)
5. Breathing-related sleep disorders (e.g. OSAS)
6. Movement-related sleep disorders —> Restless leg syndrome / PLMD
(- Substance / medication-induced)
(- OS / US sleep-wake disorders)
Diagnostic criteria for Insomnia disorder
- Predominant complaint of dissatisfaction with sleep quantity / quality
—> >=1 difficulty initiating sleep
—> difficulty maintaining sleep
—> early morning awakening - Clinically significant distress / impairment in functioning
- **>=3 nights per week for **>=3 months
- Despite adequate opportunity for sleep
- Not better explained by other sleep disorder, substance use, mental, medical conditions
Primary / Comorbid insomnia
Diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts
- Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests / activities
- Present since childhood
- Impairment in functioning
- Not better explained by intellectual disability / developmental delay
Diagnostic criteria for ADHD
- Persistent pattern of **Inattention / **Hyperactivity-impulsivity
- Present prior to ***age 12
- > =2 settings
- Impairment in functioning
- Not occur exclusively during other disorders
Disruptive, Impulse-control, Conduct disorders
- Intermittent explosive disorder
- Oppositional defiant disorder
- Conduct disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Kleptomania (stealing)
- Pyromania (fire setting)
- OS / US impulse control disorder
Personality disorders
Cluster A (Strange type): - Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal
Cluster B (Emotional type): - Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissitic
Cluster C (Anxious type): - Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-compulsive
Diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder
Pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image and affects and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by 5 or more of following:
- Frantic efforts to ***avoid real / imagined abandonment
- Pattern of ***unstable / intense interpersonal relationship, alternating between extremes of idealisation and devaluation
- ***Identity disturbance: unstable self image / sense of self
- ***Affective instability
- ***Chronic feelings of emptiness
Etc.
Diagnostic criteria for Major Neurocognitive Disorder (Dementia)
- Significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in ***>=1 domains (complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual-motor, social cognition) based on informants / cognitive tests
- Interfere with independent living
- Not better explained by other mental disorder