University of Phoenix Material Appendix G

The DSM-IV

The DSM-IV is an important tool for clinicians. It provides a standard for diagnoses to be standardized across psychology; however, the DSM-IV is not as precise for diagnosing personality disorders as some psychologists would like.

Give an example of each of the following problems identified in your readings and explain how these problems could negatively affect a diagnosis.

1. Some criteria used for reaching a diagnosis cannot be observed directly

The DSM-IV has been criticized because it has been proven not to be dependable when diagnosing patients. A clinician uses the symptoms provided by the patient to diagnosis the condition the patient may be suffering from. The symptoms the patient provides could be made up or over...