SOCI 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Psychiatric Epidemiology, Mental Disorder, National Comorbidity Survey
9 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
There has been a long-standing debate about a categorical vs. continuous approach to measuring mental disorder. Dsm 5 symptom lists are the gold standard for individual-level measurement. General practitioners (gps) have many skills to diagnose (i. e. measure) mental disorders in individuals. Epidemiological studies rely on standardized instruments administered by lay interviewers to detect mental illnesses. These are lists of questions used to determine presence or absence of a mental illness. They are loosely based on questions that would be asked in a clinical interview (e. g. , aimed at symptom lists) Can be targeted at a specific disorder, e. g. , ces-d. Or can be global, e. g. , scan, cidi, scid. There are short item (12) vs. long item (36) versions. Almost all rely on self-report, which is less rigorous than clinical interactions (which often involve observer report) A psychiatrists does not use self-report, needs much more information to make a diagnoses and makes a much more accurate diagnosis.
