The DSM-IV is an important tool for clinicians. It provides a standard for diagnoses to be standardized across psychology; however, the DSM-IV is not as precise for diagnosing personality disorders as some psychologists would like.
Give an example of each of the following problems identified in your readings and explain how these problems could negatively affect a diagnosis.
1. Some criteria used for reaching a diagnosis cannot be observed directly. The DSM-IV has been criticized for diagnosing patients with disorders because of their reliability. A patient is diagnosed by a clinician based on the patient telling them their symptoms, when it is possible that the patient is exaggerating and this can result in a patient being mis diagnosed because the clinician may not have paid close attention to body language and actions from the patient.
2. Personality disorders can be similar to each other. A person can be diagnosed with one or more personality disorders because symptoms are related to one another according to the DSM-IV. With the symptoms of personality disorders being similar in nature to one another it does make it hard to diagnose a person with a single personality disorder according to the DSM-IV.
3. People with different personalities can be given the same diagnosis. Each person is different so therefore one person’s symptoms may not be the same as another person. The DSM-IV does not account for a person’s individuality. An individual’s personality affects how they react to different situations in life, this can lead to a misdiagnosis by a clinician, this is something the DSM-IV does not take into consideration.
4. Do you think that personality disorders are true mental illnesses? Why or why not? With myself having been diagnosed with a personality disorder, I would have to say that yes I do believe
