PSYB32H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder
3 Oct 2012
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Document Summary
Classification and diagnosis- diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm-iv-tr) Specific diagnostic criteria for each disorder is found in the dsm. Not until 1980 and the introduction of dsm-iii, that the multi-axial classification was developed. Specific symptoms that went with each disorder were provided; certain number of symptoms for a certain period of time. Goal was to improve the reliability of a diagnosis; the problem that still persists today is that it is still based on the medical model, symptoms listed are markers for the disease. Issue with dsm and psychiatric disorders is that there are no markers for disorders, thus some argue that we are really dealing with hypothetical constructs. Thus reliability is still an issue when it comes to making a diagnosis according to the dsm. A great deal of subjective opinion is also involved because dsm is based on categorical model of diagnosis (certain number of symptoms to be something)
