Diagnosing and Treating Disco Di
Evaluating patient’s symptoms and diagnosing them can be challenging, especially when diagnostic features begin to overlap with other disorders and symptoms are similar. The need for a proper assessment is crucial for patients and their families who are seeking help. In Diana’s case she seems to be having symptoms related to bipolar II disorder which would explain her misdiagnosis of Major depressive Disorder (MDD) and Border Personality Disorder (BPD). The author pays close attention to Diana’s symptoms and determines the best potential treatment methods.
Diagnostic Features & Differential Diagnosis
The author does not entirely agree with the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and Border Personality Disorder (BPD) that was given to Diana Miller. Although she displays symptoms of someone who is…show more content… Undeniably, these cultural factors impact the diagnostic symptoms associated with the disorder because these features are not only based on the recognizable symptoms throughout the world, they are also influenced by cultural beliefs, values and norms (National Institute of Mental Health, 2002). The way patients present their symptoms to their clinicians tend to be different across cultures. While most westernized individuals who might be suffering from a major depressive episode express their cognitive symptoms, feelings of distress, low-self-esteem people in non-Western countries tend to focus on their somatic symptoms. Symptoms like weight-loss and sleep disturbances are their primary focus (Comer, 2015). There are clinicians who misdiagnose their patients because they often reflect the discriminatory practices of their society (Comer, 2015). The stereotyping of racial minorities has caused an overwhelming amount of misdiagnosis within the African-American patients. They are often underdiagnosed for bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder (Lawson & Strickland,
