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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 9 page paper addresses whether or not the DSM is useful for diagnosis of abnormal behaviors. The essay begins with a brief historical account of the DSM and the reasons it was first written. Those reasons are still true today. The writer discusses why DSM classifications might be deleted or added to the manual. This essay includes criticisms of the DSM as well as support for it and the many ways in which it aids mental health professionals to diagnose, communicate with each other and conduct research. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
Page Count:
9 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGdsmuse.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the patient to cure the illness, or, in many cases, to abate the symptoms. More often than not, the physician is able to offer a valid diagnosis. It is not
as clear-cut with mental illnesses but the mental health professionals do have a tool that is intended to help - the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders. The
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders is exactly that - a tool. It is a reference that classifies mental illnesses and offers the list of symptoms and the name
of mental illness or disorder. The medical and psychiatric community began trying to classify mental illness in the mid-1800s. In the early 1900s, the New York Academy of Medicine and
the American Psychiatric Association collaborated to develop nomenclature that would be accepted nationally. This resulted in the first reference called the American Medical Associations Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease (Zimmer,
1999). The original classification system, then, began as a medical model but it has evolved since then (Riesenberg, nd). The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not
attempt to offer causes nor does it dictate treatment; it is a reference that provides the user with symptoms (Riesenberg, nd). It also tells the user that when these symptoms
occur together, or to the degree specified, the condition is usually called X (Riesenberg, nd). This type of classification system is important, in fact, one could argue that it is
essential for both treatment and research (Riesenberg, nd). Lacking any kind of classification reference for disorders or illnesses, the psychologist or psychiatrist would be working from a blank page beginning
at step one with each and every patient (Riesenberg, nd). The classification system provides a common language within the profession, a critical resource for collaboration, study, diagnosis, research and
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