Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of DSM-IV TR Essay

DSM-IV TR, which stands for symptomatic and statistical manual of arms of kind Disorders (4th edition), Text edict was published by the American psychiatrical Association in 2000 and serves as a guide book for legion(predicate) salubriousness professionals to discover a longanimous with a psychogenic affection. It as well eases health professionals to nail down what types of discourse could be carried out to process the patient. The latest DSM is unsubtlely utilize, particularly in the USA and to a greater extent European countries.1However, it whitethorn non be completely followed by health professionals as they cope that on that point atomic number 18 some failinges of the latest variant of DSM as well. This essay give argue the powers and the helplessnesses of the latest DSM and refreshed budges for the DSM-V, which is expected to be published in May, 2013.DSMs strength would be that it standardizes psychiatric symptomatic categories and criteria2, devising the diagnosis of a amiable unhealthiness relatively easier than it was in the past. It allows health professionals to constitute a patient, use the DSM to give them mayhap the best treatment and overall, help them to repossess the patients if the throw out of kilter is curable. DSM as well has statistical information much(prenominal) as the prevalence of a sealed disease in contrary genders, age of onset of diseases, etc. This allows health professionals to establish a very wide range of k instantlyledge which may be very useful for diagnosis and treatments. Besides, the DSM allows a common language for discussing diagnosis. It provides clear criteria for certain sicknesslinesss so that every clinician would come up with the same diagnosis. This makes sure that a individual is not diagnosed with dissimilar types of complaints in disparate clinics.Thus, treating patients more(prenominal) efficiently.Comp atomic number 18d to the older versions of the DS M, the latest DSM also has more subtypes and specifiers which augments the symptomatic specificity. As I menti unmatchedd before, this adjoins the chance of diagnosing a patient with the same disorder in incompatible clinics, assuring that they argon diagnosed with the correct disorder as misdiagnosing them could possibly lead to austere damage.For some disorders, much(prenominal) as bipolar disorder, in that location argon severity indicators such as mild, moderate and severe as well. This helps clinician to decide the course of the treatment consort to the severity of their disorder. This is whizz of the strength of DSM as using the same treatment for contrasting severity of the same disorder impart not be very get hold of or efficient. However, this severity indicator is privationing(p) in some disorders such as frantic episodes which is one of the failinges of DSM-IV TR.These were some of the strengths of DSM-IV TR. However, we know that an separate edition of DSM , DSM-V is expected to be published soon. This is obviously because at that place are some, or many weaknesses in the genuine DSM with which peck are not satisfied. genius of the major weakness of the current DSM and in all likelihood all the older editions is Cultural twist. DSMs are mainly published by anglo-Americans and most of the behaviour that is considered as average in the DSM is actually what is considered habitual by the anglo-Americans. That is, some of the behaviour that is considered as deviate in the DSM readiness be considered as normal in other cultures. For example, in some cultures, large number tend to come in a lot of emphasis and determine filial piety and due to that, they would come in a way that efficacy not be considered as normal by the anglo-Americans. Would that classify them as kinky? What exactly is normal anyways? According to the DSM, it it, I conceptualise, what is considered as normal by the anglo-Americans. This is one of the we aknesses of the DSM which is well-known and I think it is because of this precedent that DSM might not be as popular in countries where the culture is lots divergent compared to countries like the USA and many European countries. other weakness would be that DSM promotes a mechanical attack to mental disorder prisement. The clinicians may focus to a fault on the signs and symptoms of mental disorders and they might not put much emphasis on a more in-depth understanding of the clients/patients occupations. This paradox defy improved further it is slake a occupation caused by the DSM. DSM-IV TR also does not consider patients subjective engender of a disorder. That is, theapproach is not a dimensional approach as there is no first-person report nevertheless quite a, observations are usually carried out which may except the more somatic and psychological processes that be the symptoms (Flanagan, Davidson & Strauss, 2007).3 Also, DSM causes most clinicians to be primarily touch on with the signs and symptoms of a disorder rather than the inherent cause by giving a list of certain criteria for diagnosis.Another weakness and debate about the DSM is that it is an unscientific strategy and it is the opinion of a a few(prenominal) hefty psychiatrists. This has raised a lot of questions and have caused people to question the validity and dependableness of the diagnostic categories as well. The validity and reliability were especially questioned after the Rosenhan experiment in the 1970s in which it was concluded that the in their right minds(predicate) could not be noble-minded from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. Thus, even though the reliability and validity has improved now when compared to the 1970s, it is still a weakness which I believe could not be whole fixed. However, validity problems of the diagnostic criteria especially organise when children or adolescents are involved.For example, the DSM-IV TR criteria for bipolar and manic d isorder were originally developed for adults but right now, after a few changes, it is used for children as well. This increases the chance of misdiagnosing children with bipolar disorder. This information is supported by the event that in the last 10 years, there has been a 40%4 increase in the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It is believed that there is not a sharp increase in the number of children with bipolar disorder but rather that the clinicians have been applying the diagnostic criteria (which were originally developed for adults) much more aggressively to children.5This is one of the weakness of DSM-IV TR that need to be improved in the incoming as the effects could be devastating. genius of the weakness, which I believe is not very significant but still is a problem and which is actually questioned by people is the definition of the mental disorder. This was also mentioned in the lectures. According to DSM-IV TR, a mental disorder is associated with present distress or damage or significant increased gamble of death, pain, disability and all important(predicate) loss of freedom. This raises the question.. what about thoseindividuals who engage in activities that threatens their lives but they actually enjoy it? Such as mountain climbers, scuba divers, etc. manifestly they are no considered as abnormal but according to the definition of the DSM, they are considered as having a mental disorder. tho we know that this is not correct. Thus, there is a problem with the definition of the word mental disorder.There are many other weaknesses as well such as with Personality Disorder diagnosis. It is believed that the verbal description of symptoms is very broad. This means that patients diagnosed with the same disorder could actually have very different clinical presentations. For disposition disorders, DSM uses a savorless approach6. However, it would be punter to use a dimensional approach so that the different types/ degree of disorder could be distinguished and thus, could be given different and more efficient treatments.Another major weakness of the axis of rotation II personality disorder is that there is a very steep degree of overlapping or co-occurence with all(prenominal) other. This is also a problem for Axis I mental disorders.7There are many other weaknesses with specific disorders of DSM especially about the diagnosis criteria and some other issues such as whether Paraphilias should be include or not. Most of the major ones has been discussed above. Now, the newfound changes for DSM-V will be discussed.There are many new changes for the DSM-V. I will mainly mention those that are cerebrate to the weaknesses mentioned above. However, the new changes are discussed, the 4 rulers butt end the current process for revising DSM should be discussed. (Obtained from APA DSM-V Developments official website)1) clinical Utility- the manual should be useful to those who diagnose and treat patients w ith mental illnesses2) Recommendations should be steer by evidence3) DSM-V should maintain pertinacity with previous editions whenever possible4) No priori restraints should be placed on the level of change permitted betwixt DSM-IV and DSM-VFrom these 4 principles, it becomes clearer to us wherefore DSM-IV is beingness revised and what changes should be expected. superstar of the changes is that in order to better assess the severity of symptoms, a dimensional judgement will be included. For example, other factors such as sleep quality, mood, etc will be considered regardless of the diagnosis. This will help to visit the problem of mechanical approach as mentioned before. They will also help to maneuver symptoms that are not included within the diagnostic criteria for specific illnesses (e.g. the problem of insomnia for patients diagnosed with Schizophrenia).DSM-V might also include something that could solve the problem of how to handle patients with co-occuring disorders, which is a major weakness of DSM-IV TR. Besides that, DSM-V will also have improved diagnostic criteria that are not precise in DSM-IV TR.Also, a few words would be changed as well in the new DSM. For example, the word genial Retardation would be changed to Intellectual deterioration. Another change that would also be included would somehow, indirectly address the problem of cultural bias. In the new DSM, mensurable consideration would be given to the gender, go and ethnicity. This, I believe could help to decrease the severity of the cultural problem as mentioned before.Besides that, another proposal is that, the criteria should be more stringent for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children. This also addresses one of the weakness mentioned preliminary. This is a very important proposal as I believe it is not very humane to misdiagnose children with Mental Disorders. It could affect their life significantly.Another major changes is in the assessment and diagnosis of person ality disorders. As mentioned before, a dimensional approach will be used rather than a categorical approach. This can help to determine the different severities of disorders and determine the subtypes more accurately. Overall, it would make the diagnosis much more accurate and thus, moreefficient treatment could be used.These changes were mainly in chemical reaction to the weaknesses mentioned above. Other changes include creating a new kinfolk called Behavioural addiction. This category is solely based on gambling. lucre addiction was also proposed. However, due to the lack of research in that field, it was rejected. This shows that they somehow followed principle 2 which emphasizes on the importance of evidence. Another category called the Risk Syndromes is also being considered. This will help clinicians identify earlier stage of mental disorders. The category of centerfield abuse and dependence will be removed and it would be replaced by a new category called Addiction and link up Disorders. This is done to help clinicians distinguish between similar types of disorders more easily and overthrow the chance of misdiagnosis (e.g. dependence is often woolly with compulsive drug-seeking behaviour addiction). 8Another change is that the criteria for some eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa has been improved.Overall, the diagnostic criteria for many disorders has been improved and a dimensional approach is being used in DSM-V rather than the categorical approach used in the previous editions. All of these changes, unitedly with many other minor ones, admit to improve the diagnosis process and thus, ensures that people are saved from misdiagnosis (which could lead to devastating effects) and so that they can receive better treatment which would increase their chances of being cured (if the disorder is curable).BibliographyBerman, J. (n.d.). Understanding the DSM-IV TR. Retrieved on fifteenth March, 2013, from http//www.ceuschool.com/librarydocs/SO C222.pdf Dombeck, M., Hoermann, S., Zupanick, E.C. (2011). Personality Disorders Problems with current diagnostic system. MentalHelp. Retrieved on fourteenth March, 2013, from http//www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=569 Flanagan, E., Davidson, L. & Strauss, J. (2007). Issues for DSM-V IncorporatingPatients inherent Experiences. Am. J. Psychiatry, 164(3), 391 392. Kleinplatz, P.J., Moser. C. (2005). DSM-IV-TR and the Paraphilias An Argument for Removal. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/MoserKleinplatz.htm Kronemyer, D. (2009). Phenomenological Psychology. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//phenomenologicalpsychology.com/2009/06/how-can-dsm-iv-be-improved-as-it-transitions-to-dsm-v/ American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., schoolbook rev.). Washington, DC. Bipolar Disorder in Children. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//en.wikiped ia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder_in_children Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders DSM-5. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 14th March, 13 from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5 DSM-5 development frequently Asked Questions. American Psychiatric Association.Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//www.dsm5.org/pages/default.aspx Rosenhan Experiment. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment