Diagnostic Criteria Flashcards
(10 cards)
What is an Impulse control disorder?
They involve the build up in tension that’s relieved when a person engages in a specific behaviour, which feels irresistible to carry out.
What happens when they carry out the impulse?
They get an immediate euphoric rush which relieves the tension, long term impact of these behaviours can lead to significant distress and dysfunction including financial and personal loss.
What is Kleptomania?
Rare condition, affecting 0.6% of the population.Can develop at any ages and is more common in females.
Main characteristic is the irresistible urge to steal, which the individual does not want or need and they may give or throw the items away.
What is Pyromania?
Individuals have a fascination with fire. Repeatedly and intentionally light fires. Have the urge to light and feel relief and pleasure as the fire grows.
What is Gambling Disorder?
Individual has impaired control of their gambling such as where and when it happens.
Gambling takes priority over all other activities necessary for daily functioning ( work or family life)
Persistent gambling must be atleast 12 months for diagnosis
What is Kleptomania symptom assessment scale?
11item self report
0-4
Must consider thoughts feeling and action over past week
44 highest score,
31 severe
22 onwards have disorder
Used to assess severity of symptoms over time
Evaluate the KSAS
Only takes around 10 minutes to complete and person administering does not need training or score questionnaire.
Diagnosis can be made quickly, patient can be referred with no delay
strength: is the use of quantitative data, which does not require any interpretation, whereas qualitative data from an interview, for example, could lead to a subjective analysis, where factors such as age, gender and socioeconomic background may influence the diagnosing doctor’s conclusions. Use of a standardised procedure for assessing symptoms should reduce the bias, leading to a more objective diagnosis.
weakness:”is that the K-SAS is a self-report questionnaire, so people may not tell the truth about their symptoms. People with kleptomania are often deeply ashamed of their urges and actions, meaning they are likely to under-report the true extent of their disorder. This is important because it means the K-SAS scores may not be valid.
Idiographic versus nomothetic KSAS?
Idiographic versus nomothetic
A strength of the K-SAS is the nomothetic approach that it takes, i.e. large amounts of data have been collected over the years in order that people’s scores can be compared with normative data and judgments made about whether symptoms are mild, moderate or severe, thus allowing people to be prioritised for treatment using relatively objective quantitative data. However, this approach means that symptoms may be seen out of context, i.e there is no explanations of why a person has been stealing. Case studies use more than one approach to gathering data (triangulation) meaning that it is possible to gain information using idiographic methods such as interviewing to ask open questions, which help practitioners to understand the why as well as the what’. For example, in Glover’s case study (Glover, 1985) the information about the woman’s husband’s conviction for embezzlement (see page 299) may have helped the doctor to decide on a suitable form of therapy for her.
Quantitative data alone may not be as helpful in this respect, suggesting that the K-SAS should only be one part of the information obtained about a client.
