Diagnosis in mental health disorders

• How do we diagnose:

  • clinical interview 
  • Standardised test 
  • 4Ds 
  • Classification systems 
• Deviance :

  Behaviour which is rare within society. If behaviour is considered deviant from the norm it could suggest a clinical disorder is present. It may change across time and place as social norms change. It is when behaviour is not statistically normal ans is socially unacceptable behaviour. If behaviour is not within two standard deviations for the population it can be considered statistically abnormal and may be used to diagnose a mental health disorder  
• Dysfunction

  If behaviour is significantly interfering with the persons life a disorder may be present, e.g inability to work or not partaking in activities that an individual would normally do like go out with friends. All aspects of a patients life are discussed to assess the problematic behaviour. May not be obvious so when it is used to diagnose a mental health disorder all aspects of clients life should be assessed.
• Distress

  When a behaviour is causing upset to the individual. This can be used to diagnose a mental health disorder if there is no logical reason for the person to be upset. It can be used in isolation to diagnose mental illness as someone could be very upset without experiencing deviance or danger
• Danger

  If a person is putting their own life or others lives at risk
• Duration

  Length of time the symptoms have been present
• Dysfunction

  If behaviour is significantly interfering with the persons life a disorder may be present
• Deviance 

  Behaviour which is rare within society. If behaviour is considered deviant from the norm it could suggest a clinical disorder is present.
• Problems with diagnosis 

  Reliability

  Refers to the consistency of the measurement

  • consistency measure of results
  • Symptoms and features

  Validity

  A tests ability to measure what its supposed to measure

  • accuracy to determine disorder
  • Measurements 
  • Symptom features 

  Individual differences 

  • culture
  • Age
  • Sex