Diagnosing Psychological Disorders

Methods of Diagnosing Psychological Disorders

Diagnosing psychological disorders can be difficult due to many overlapping symptoms. Mental health professionals need to make an accurate diagnosis to provide the patient with the best treatment.

DSM-5 and Psychological Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a diagnostic tool used by mental health professionals across the globe. This manual is the blueprint for diagnosing psychological disorders, and the most recent contains 157 different diagnoses.

To make an accurate diagnosis, mental health professionals must rule out both biological diseases and other psychological disorders before diagnosing patients. This is typically done through laboratory tests of the patient's blood, imaging, and the administration of psychological tests.

Substance Abuse

A mental health professional must rule out substance abuse-induced symptoms by talking with the patient and their family about the nature of their substance abuse. Substance abuse is often a comorbidity of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, MDD, and bipolar disorder.

Once substance abuse is ruled out or determined as comorbidity, the mental health professional must evaluate the specific primary disorder using the DSM-5. Disorders in this manual are grouped according to common presenting symptoms. Once a primary diagnosis has been made, the mental health professional typically administers a psychological test to determine the level of severity.

Diagnosing Fictional Characters with Psychological Disorders

The set of characters that we will be analyzing today is from a show that we all know and love, SpongeBob SquarePants. If you look closely at the main characters, you will find that they all display symptoms of different psychological disorders. SpongeBob has a short attention span, is hyperactive, and gets distracted very easily. According to the DSM-5, he could be diagnosed with ADHD based on his symptoms. Since he is not a human, we can't rule out any biological diseases that might be the cause of his symptoms.

Patrick, on the other hand, could be diagnosed with an eating disorder due to his extreme love of food. Another character with a potential psychiatric disorder is Squidward. He has a fixed routine and takes showers in a very specific way, a textbook symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Now let's move on to Mr. Krabs. He is fixated on money and is very impulsive when it comes to his decisions and actions. His symptoms could be of Autism Spectrum Disorder or mania, and he would most likely need additional psychological testing for an accurate diagnosis.

Cultural Differences In Diagnosing Psychological Disorders

Culture influences how psychological disorders are diagnosed. Many cultures do not believe in psychological disorders, and as a result, many people are underdiagnosed. Cultural stigma is one of the primary reasons people do not seek mental health assistance. In many cultures, mental health issues are seen as a form of weakness that should not be discussed with others.

Another way culture can affect the diagnosis of psychological disorders is how well people understand and describe a patient's symptoms.

Criteria For Psychological Disorders

Historically speaking, the DSM-4 outlined a psychological disorder as having the 4 Ds: deviance, dysfunction, distress, and danger. A person needed to showcase symptoms that caused all or some of the 4 Ds to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.

Deviance

For example, schizophrenic patients deviate from the societal norms due to their hallucinations and psychosis, as people do not normally have hallucinations unless they induce them with drug use.

Dysfunction

Dysfunction occurs when the affected individual cannot function normally in his daily life. According to the DSM-4, the level of dysfunction must be large enough to significantly interfere with the person's life. To understand this D, let's take a look at MDD. The DSM-4 outlines MDD as presenting with two or more episodes of severe depression. The patient may have difficulties functioning in their everyday life due to their depressive moods and may have extremely poor hygiene due to the lack of motivation that is usually present in MDD. These dysfunctions are considered severe and would demonstrate a diagnosis of MDD.

Distress

A patient will exhibit symptoms of distress when their symptoms are severe enough to activate a consistent stress response. Distress can be explored with anxiety symptoms such as phobias. If a patient is suspected of having a phobia of roaches, the mental health professional would expect to see an elevated stress response in the person when roaches are present near that person. Distress can be severe or mild and can greatly impact a person's everyday function.

Danger

Danger refers to a person being dangerous to themselves or others. In severe cases of MDD, a person can exhibit suicidal ideations and may even attempt suicide. These symptoms are extremely dangerous for the patient's well-being and require emergency intervention.

Understanding psychological disorders. pixabay.com.

Psychological Disorders List and Symptoms

There are numerous psychological disorders outlined in the DSM-5, and each of them is unique.

Anxiety Disorders

Typical symptoms of anxiety disorders are high levels of distress that impact a person's function in everyday life. Symptoms include severe worrying, insomnia, fear, the feeling of doom, and panic attacks. The stress associated with anxiety affects your body's physiology and can cause high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and even strokes. There are distinct types of anxiety disorders, and all have a specific diagnosis.

Depressive Disorders

Depressive disorders are associated with mild to high levels of dysfunction, distress, and danger. Symptoms of depression include low mood, lack of motivation, lack of happiness, dysfunction in multiple aspects of life, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal attempts. Everyone with depression will have different symptoms and different levels of severity.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders range from moderate to severe, with anorexia being the most extreme. Eating disorders significantly impact a person and usually result from poor self-esteem. People with anorexia often starve themselves because they see themselves as fat, while people with bulimia binge eat and then take methods to prevent their bodies from absorbing the food. Eating disorders often showcase MDD as comorbidity. People with eating disorders have a significantly low mood, contributing to the worsening of the symptoms.

Personality Disorders

People with personality disorders often have a distorted sense of reality. In the case of narcissism, an affected person may be highly manipulative in order to get what they want. People with personality disorders lack empathy. Personality disorders are associated with a high level of deviance.

Psychotic Disorders

Usually, psychotic disorders range from mild to severe. However, most patient's have intense symptoms and need medical intervention. Symptoms of psychotic disorders include visual, tactile, and auditory hallucinations, psychosis, and delirium. People with a psychotic disorder may present danger to themselves or others as they have distorted realities when not on medication. Psychotic disorders are associated with a high level of distress, danger, and dysfunction.