Some considerations on psychiatric diagnosis and on the main diagnostic systems

Journal title RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA
Author/s Paolo Migone
Publishing Year 2011 Issue 2011/2 Language Italian
Pages 22 P. 19-40 File size 790 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSF2011-002003
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The main features of the most widely used psychiatric diagnostic systems are briefly presented, namely the last editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSMIII of 1980, DSM-III-R of 1987, DSM-IV of 1994, DSM-IV-TR of 2000, and DSM-5 scheduled for 2013), the 10th edition (1992) of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) of World Health Organization (WHO), and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) published in 2006 by the international psychoanalytic community. Regarding DSM-III and DSM-IV, some methodological issues are discussed, namely validity vs. reliability, categories vs. dimensions, and monotethic vs. polytethic system, and some criticisms towards the DSM-5 draft are anticipated. Finally, the following topics are discussed: "descriptive" and "structural" psychopathology; diagnosis as a possible "defense" of the therapist; scientific and philosophical aspects of diagnosis; attempts at "suspending" our judgments and preconceptions; the nomotethic/idiographic dichotomy.

Keywords: Psychiatric diagnosis, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), DSM-5, validity, reliability

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Paolo Migone, Presentazione dei principali sistemi diagnostici in psichiatria e alcune riflessioni sul problema della diagnosi in "RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA" 2/2011, pp 19-40, DOI: 10.3280/RSF2011-002003