psychological disorders
medical model -
the conceptualization of psychological disorders as diseases that, like physical diseases, have
biological causes, defined symptoms, and possible cures
- first step is to determine the nature of problem through diagnosis; do this by assessing the symptoms
to determine the nature of the disease; these symptoms (behaviors, thoughts, and emotions) are
suggestive of a specific underlying syndrome
- however, as useful as the medical model can be, every action or thought suggestive of abnormality
cannot be traced to an underlying disease
DSM IV -
a classification system that describes the features used to diagnose each recognized mental
disorder and indicates how the disorder can be distinguished from other, similar problems
- each disorder is named and classified as though it were a distinct illness
- DSM considers 1) a disorder is manifested in symptoms that involve disturbances in behavior,
thoughts, or emotions
2) the symptoms are associated with significant personal distress or impairment
3) the symptoms stem from an internal dysfunction (biological, psychological, or both)
- based mostly on interpretation based criteria instead of observable behavior and empirical evidence
global assessment of functioning -
a 1-100 rating of the person, with more severe disorders indicated by lower numbers and more
effective functioning by higher numbers
- used to help determine if someone, on average, has underlying psychological disorders
comorbidity -
the co-occurence of two or more disorders in a single individual
- is more likely
