Week 1: Nosology Flashcards
Nosology is…
The classification of disease
In dev psychopathology, it is the organization of behavioral and emotional dysfunction into meaningful groupings
Categorical approach
Someone who has a disorder is…
DSM5
Disorders as discreet categories
Developed by panels of experts (professional consensus)
Very medical; discreet disorders with separate causes
Someone who has a disorder is fundamentally different from someone who does not
Categorical approach - Advantages (2 things)
Synthesis of info - diagnostic interviews give loads of info, with this system you can sort it neatly
Aids communication: two professionals can see the same patient and immediately know what they are dealing with
Categorical approach - Disadvantages (6 things)
Children and adults do not often fit into these categories
Comorbidities: Often one diagnosis also meets the criteria for another. If these occur so often together, are they really separate?
Impaired but does not meet threshold
DSM makes a hard, binary cut. You can not meet threshold but still be distressed. Depression is often like this.
Lose information: By putting patients into categories, we lose extraneous information which might not actually be irrelevant
Symptom combinations: people with totally different symptoms might meet criteria for the same diagnosis
Does not tally with genetic and neuroscience research - the diagnoses we came up with might not be good
Dimensional Systems
RdoC
Is there a difference between diagnosed and non-diagnoses people?
Research Doman Criteria (RDoC)
Move towards assessing key dimensions instead of categories
Dimensional measurement:
Independent traits of behavior exist
People are higher or lower on these
Everyone has the trait to different digress. There is no difference between people who have a disorder and those who do not except the quantity of traits.
Dimensional Systems - Advantages
Keep all the relevant information
Allows for measures of severity (everyone has it, not on or off)
Dimensional Systems - Disadvantages
2 things
Which dimensions do we measure?
How do we arrive at a comprehensive summation of someone with so much information?
