Classification Of Sz

Question 1

According to the DSM-5 two of the following symptoms need to be present for at least a month one being positive

Answer 1

Positive symptoms- experiences in addition to normal experiences- hallucinations and delusions
Negative experiences- loss of normal experiences and abilities- avolition and speech poverty

Question 2

Reliability in the diagnosis of sz

Answer 2

Reliability measures if two observers agree for example if two doctors give the same diagnosis
Test rate retest reliability is the same doctor giving the same diagnosis overtime with the same symptoms 

Question 3

Validity in the diagnosis and classification of sz

Answer 3

In the context of schizophrenia validity questions if a person has the disorder when diagnosed or schizophrenia is a real disorder with clear and unique symptoms

Question 4

Becks findings to do with validity of schizophrenia

Answer 4

He found 153 patients diagnosed by multiple doctors had only a 54% concordance rate between the doctors assessments. Lack of agreement suggests there is low inter rater reliability in diagnosing schizophrenia this also suggests many people are diagnosed incorrectly

Question 5

Co morbidity

Answer 5

Schizophrenia is often diagnosed with other disorders. This could lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of schizophrenia when it could be a severe case of depression.

Question 6

System overlap

Answer 6

Bipolar disorder also has hallucinations and delusions as a symptom. If the two disorders are so similar they may not be distinct should be redefined

Question 7

Buckley found co-morbidity

Answer 7

Found comorbidity rates with schizophrenia depression 50% drug abuse 47% PTSD 29% and OCD 23%

Question 8

Gender bias

Answer 8

Cotton argues women’s experience of schizophrenia is taken less seriously and under diagnosed compared to men due to women’s better social coping strategies leading to being less likely to seek treatment

Question 9

Culture bias

Answer 9

People with Afro Caribbean heritage in the UK are up to 9 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Fernando argues this is cuter category failure when western definitions of mental illnesses are applied to people from non-western cultures.

Question 10

Loring and Powell

Answer 10

Sent 290 psychiatrists to identical case studies altering ethnicity in agenda the researchers found over diagnosis if the case study claim to be of a black client and under diagnosis if the case study claimed it was a female client the most accurate diagnosis was when the gender race of the psychiatrist were the samein the case study. This suggests the existence of gender and cultural bias in psychiatrist diagnosis of schizophrenia.