The Expansion of DSM Diagnoses Essay - 1079 Words

When I consider the expansion of DSM diagnoses from just over 100 to almost 300 over the short course of forty-odd years and an even more diagnoses being added, couple with diagnoses that are broader in their application blurring the lines of what is normal and what is abnormal when considering the behaviors of the individual client behaviors, it saddens me to no end and makes me wonder if the world is moving closer to insanity as a population or is it merely the incessant whining of pharmaceutical companies who want broader acceptance of their medications. Not that I don’t understand the need for a way to classify the conditions that individuals may suffer from in their lives in a manner that is communicable amongst practitioners either†¦show more content†¦When you approach the boy he starts to growl and bare his teeth like a dog, he carefully puts his body between you and his morning repast. What are you to think? Is the child suffering from some form of mental dis order that is causing him to behave like a wild animal and eat garbage? Or is he doing what he has learned to do to survive? From his perspective you are the intruder, a vile enemy to be scared off to protect his food source†¦ of course he knows that you are bigger than he is so he can’t really win a confrontation with you so if pressed he will flee the situation – Survival. He has no thought about going to school or worry about what he will do at five o’clock when the day is over, as long as he is warm, dry and modestly fed he will be happy and will survive another day. Let us now take a moment and move to the next level of situation, a teenage girl who comes from an upper middle class home where mom and dad both work hard to provide her the life that they never had. She is defiant and stubborn, she wantsShow MoreRelatedSymptomatism Case Study1172 Words   |  5 Pagesrecognition of the significance of trauma and its psychological effects appear in the DSM-5 new category of Trauma and Stress-Related Disorders (TSRDs). MST symptomatology closely aligns with that of PTSD in the DMS-5 and supports the basis of associating the experience with the diagnosis. DSM-5. Investigation of the PTSD clinical syndrome symptomology reveals that DSM-III had twelve symptoms grouped into three clusters, DSM-IV had seventeen symptoms grouped into the same three clusters, and DMS-5, PTSDRead MoreThe Severity Of Depression Epidemic1485 Words   |  6 Pagesdiagnosed. Currently depression is diagnosed using the DSM III which is a list of different symptoms; if someone has at least five symptoms from the list they were considered depressed. This new focus on the number of symptoms may have a hand in the increase diagnoses. 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