validity

• Validity 


  refers to whether something is true or legitimate.
• v=

  variation in outcomes
• a=

  absence of explanation
• l=

  lack of treatment effectiveness
• i=

  individuals never diagnosed fare better
• d=

  disorder overlap
• morbidity


  refers to a medical condition or how common it is
• co-morbidity


  the phenomenon that two conditions occur at the same time
• if conditions occur at the same time then it calls into question the validity of their diagnosis and classification as they might be a single condition e.g depression, ocd and ptsd
• Buckley (2009)


  • 50% of schizophrenia also have a diagnosis of depression or substance abuse (47%)
  • PTSD was in 27% of cases
  • OCD was in 23% of cases

  challenges both classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia
• co morbidity explained


  in severe depression, it may look like sever schizophrenia and vice versa, but they're actually a single condition e.g post natal depression and bipolar
• symptom overlap


  symptoms of schizophrenia resemble episodes of temporal lobe epilepsy, bipolar depression and drug induced psychosis
• kettler (2005)


  reported that positive symptoms of schizophrenia resemble episodes of mania in bipolar disorder whilst negative symptoms resemble clinical depression
• kettler believes as many as 50% of cases may be misdiagnosed
• What psychological disorders are similar to schizophrenia?


  Depression, OCD, and PTSD
• What biases can affect the diagnosis of schizophrenia?


  Gender bias and cultural bias
• How do treatment and causes contribute to the validity of diagnosing schizophrenia?

  They provide context for understanding the disorder
• What are the key points to discuss regarding the validity of diagnosing schizophrenia?

  • 
    
  • Validity concerns: variation in outcomes, absence of explanation, lack of treatment effectiveness
  • Co-morbidity with other disorders
  • Biases in diagnosis (gender and cultural)
• Gender Bias in Diagnosis

  Longenecker (2010) argued that men are more likely to be diagnosed then women
• Cultural Bias in Diagnosis

  African Americans and English people of Afro-Caribbean origin are several times more likely than white people to be diagnosed with schizophrenia
• Escobar (2012)


  Some psychologists argue that white psychologists may over-interpret symptoms and distrust the honesty of black people during diagnosis.
• It could be that hearing voices is more acceptable in African

  cultures because of cultural beliefs in communication with ancestors.
• The diagnosis of schizophrenia suffers from a number of validity issues, including:

  • Co-morbidity.
  • Symptom overlap.
  • Gender bias.
  • Cultural bias.
• While it could be that more men are diagnosed because they are more genetically vulnerable, it could also be because women are able to function better with the disorder than men.

  • Cotton et al. (2009), female patients appear to be more able to continue in work and have good family relationships. This better interpersonal functioning might lead to practitioners under-diagnosing schizophrenia in women.