How Do Clinicians Identify Psychological Disorders

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1) Describe how and why clinicians classify psychological disorders.
To classify psychological disorders, clinicians use the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.’ The DSM-5 is also known for collecting and communicating accurate public-health statistics. To classify psychological disorders, clinicians focus on three main components: the diagnostic classification, the diagnostic criteria sets, and the descriptive texts.
During the diagnostic classification, clinicians use this list of mental disorders to diagnose and try to help their patient. When using the diagnostic classification, it comes along with a diagnostic code which is used universally amongst institutions, agencies, and individual providers.The diagnostic criteria sets are a set of diagnostic criteria which includes symptoms and other disorders and conditions that must be rules out to qualify for a particular diagnosis. While the set of diagnostic criteria help increase diagnostic reliability, it’s also important to remember that it’s not healthy to self-diagnose and use the DSM in a cookbook fashion; instead to be used by professionals. Last, the descriptive texts are blurbs of text that explain the particular disorder and they fall under certain headings like “prevalence”, “diagnostic measures”, and “associated features supporting diagnosis.” The …show more content…
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