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The 4 D's of diagnosing clinical disorders - Coggle Diagram
The 4 D's of diagnosing clinical disorders
Deviance
the rarity of a behaviour within society
if it is rare or unusual it is deviant
Standard deviation is measured using, IQ, age, status, jo, height etc
They are then plotted on a line graph to help clinicians decide whether they are deviant
If patient's average is within 34.1% of the mean they are 'normal,' if it is above or below they are 'deviant'
Helps psychologists assess traits and symptoms to distinguish what DSM/ICD disorder a person may suffer from
Dysfunction
How severely the behaviour or symptoms affect daily life
Assessed by a clinician
-Rosenhan and Seligman define these characteristics as unpredictability, immorality and irrationality
Distress
amount of upset the behaviour causes
measured by comparing their competence in everyday tasks
Eg, if very distressed at trivial things or not very distressed at big things, clinical diagnosis is needed
Danger
are they a danger to themselves or others
if intervention is needed a diagnosis is needed, so treatment is necessary
Based on the harm principle, you can do what you want as long as it does not harm others
Extra- Duration
How long the 4 D's behaviour been going on
Short term or long term symptoms can lead to different diagnoses
Diagnostic tools
Before diagnosis a classification system should be referenced for accuracy
Either Statistical Maual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
Or International Classification of Disorders (ICD)
Strength
Features of disorders are recognisable and measurable without training
They can be used in conjunction with DSM to easily and efficiently, diagnose a mental health disorder
Allows more patients to be diagnosed quickly, and therefore start treatment quicker and extensive training is not necessary
Validity is supported by research
Davis' meta-analysis found that all the 4 D's were present in majority of diagnosed mental disorders.
Proves the 4 D's have high validity and can be used to diagnose
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However, Davis did not always provide enough information about each condition
He implemented duration to strenghten
Weaknesses:
Subjectivity
Clinician must use context to figure out how extreme each D is
Likely to be bias, and low inter rater reliability, as different clinicians make different inferecnces
Clinicians with different studied backgrounds may make different inferences
This can lead to varying diagnosis' and treatments
Not all D's are rare or unordinary, but still need intervention
Depression is common, with around 280 million people suffering from it and 19% of the UK's population being diagnosed
Weakness as mental health issues may be overlooked due to their commonality, causing many to suffer without treatment