Assessment of mental disorders (2) Diagnosing mental disorders

Diagnose ['daɪəgnəuz]- ставить диагноз

diagnosis [ˌdaɪəg'nəusɪs] - диагноз

precise diagnosis — точный диагноз to make a diagnosis — поставить диагноз

rigorous ['rɪg(ə)rəs]– точный, строгий;

conduct - вести, руководить \ assessment [ə'sesmənt] -оценка, определение

match - находить соответствие; \ manual ['mænjuəl] - руководство; справочник

define - определять, давать определение ( as )\

a code – кодекс\ uniform ['juːnɪfɔːm] - единообразный; одинаковый, унифицированный

fit - подходить, быть подходящим для ( чего-л. ), соответствовать ( чему-л. )

identify [aɪ'dentɪfaɪ] устанавливать, определять

design – планировать, разрабатывать (что-л. для какой-л. цели)

treatment ['triːtmənt] = medical treatment лечение, уход

How do we make a diagnosis?

Clinical interviews, psychological tests, neurological tests ↓ Clinical assessment: Identify symptoms ↓ DSM -IV-TR: Use symptoms to diagnose a mental disorder

Those who knew Susan Smith tried to diagnose the problem that led to her tragic crime. “Maybe Susan was just plain crazy.” “Maybe she had bad genes.” “Maybe something bad happened to her as a child.” Using a more rigorous method, mental health professionals conduct clinical assessments to identify symptoms, which are then used to make a clinical diagnosis. A clinical diagnosis is a process of matching an individual’s specific symptoms to those that define a particular mental disorder. Making a clinical diagnosis was very difficult prior to the 1950s because there was no uniform code or diagnostic system. However, since 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has been developing a uniform diagnostic system, whose most recent version is known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-Text Revision (revision= переработанное и исправленное издание), abbreviated as DSM-IV-TR. The DSM-IV-TR, describes a uniform system for assessing specific symptoms and matching them to almost 300 different mental disorders.

For mental health professionals, there are three advantages of using the DSMIV-TR’s uniform system to diagnose and classify mental disorders. First, mental health professionals use the classification system to communicate with one another and discuss their clients’ problems. Second, researchers use the classification system to study and explain mental disorders. Third, therapists use the classification system to design their treatment program so as to best fit a particular client’s problem.

The most important advantage of diagnostic labels is their ability to summarize and communicate a whole lot of information in a single word or phrase. But, the disadvantage is that if the label has negative associations—for example, mentally ill, retarded, schizo.

EX.1 Answer the questions.

1. What processes does a clinical diagnosis involve?

2. What does the abbreviation the DSM-IV-TR stand for?

3. What are advantages and disadvantages of using the DSMIV-TR’s uniform system to diagnose and classify mental disorders?

EX.2 Fill in the gaps with the words from the text above.

1. In making a clinical diagnosis, a mental health professional first ____________ the client’s specific symptoms and then _________ these symptoms to those described in the DSM-IV-TR.

2. Mental health professionals begin by using three different methods to identify a client’s symptoms, a process called clinical __________.

3. Next, the client’s symptoms _________ to those described in in the DSM-IVTR to arrive at a diagnosis of each client’s particular mental disorder.

4. The manual that describes the symptoms for almost 300 different mental disorders is called the ___________ . The manual’s primary goal is to provide mental health professionals with a means of ___________ mental disorders and ____________ that information in a systematic and uniform way.

5. When performed by a mental health professional, a systematic evaluation of an individual’s various psychological, biological, and social factors that may be contributing to his or her problem is called a clinical _________________ .

EX. 3 In each of these groups two words are synonyms. Decide which of the three words in each group is the odd one out.