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The Surgeon General of the US Public Health Service has focused the nation’s attention on important public health issues. The reports from this office have heightened America’s awareness of significant public health issues and have generated public health initiatives. The first Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health emphasizes that mental illness is a serious public health problem that must be addressed by the nation.
Review the report Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General ( https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/nn/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101584932X120-doc ) – review the table of contents, read the first chapter – and reference others if needed.
Also read this blog on the DSM-5 controversy – Can DSM-5 Correct its Mistakes? ( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-dsm5-correct-its-mist_b_9299742 )
Submit your answers to the following questions, in your initial discussion post:
Why is the diagnosis of mental disorders believed to be more difficult than the diagnosis of somatic, or general medical, disorders?
The diagnosis of mental disorders is often considered more challenging than that of somatic or general medical disorders because it relies on subjective measures and is not as clearly defined. Mental health problems can manifest differently in different individuals and often have no clear physical symptoms. Additionally, many psychological phenomena such as emotions and behaviors are present across a wide range of scenarios which makes them difficult to define using traditional diagnostic criteria. Furthermore, many diagnoses rely heavily on self-report from patients which may be unreliable or biased due to differences in language use and cultural background (Barnett & Steinberg, 2015). In contrast, somatic diseases can usually be diagnosed with laboratory tests that provide objective data about the condition. As a result, mental disorder diagnoses require clinicians to integrate evidence from multiple sources including behavior observations, patient reports and family information along with their previous experience and clinical knowledge (Mueser et al., 2006).
How might the revisions in DSM-5 help promote more accurate diagnoses and provision of treatments?
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-5) includes several modifications compared to its predecessor DSM-IV TR intended to improve accuracy in diagnosing mental health conditions. First, there has been an effort towards incorporating dimensional assessment into diagnostic categories when available rather than relying solely on categorical labels alone. This allows for a wider range of symptom severity levels by considering both qualitative aspects such as specific characteristics at each level as well as quantitative aspects like specific cutoffs defining low versus high levels of impairment (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). A second improvement involves eliminating certain arbitrary distinctions between related conditions thereby creating fewer separate “boxes” for clinicians into which patients must fit; this encourages an appreciation for individual variability by providing flexibility within existing illness categories rather than requiring strict adherence (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Finally DSM-5 offers guidance regarding treatment options associated with each disorder so clinicians are better equipped to make appropriate decisions based on current research findings rather than relying exclusively on personal preference or anecdotal evidence (Khadjavi & Kapur 2014). Overall these improvements should lead towards increased consistency among providers encountering similar cases while allowing enough room for individualization so that patient preferences are respected too.
Discuss one controversial revision in DSM-5 – is there a potential danger associated with it?
One controversial revision made in DSV-5 involved renaming some childhood psychiatric disorders under an overarching category known as “disruptive mood dysregulation disorder”(DMDD). The rationale behind this was primarily intended to reduce misdiagnosis stemming from frequent conflation between typical temper tantrums seen amongst children aged 6 years old or younger versus episodes indicative of an underlying emotional disturbance. However critics have argued this could cause overdiagnosis leading towards unnecessary prescription medication being handed out without taking account other possible explanations such a parenting technique being used inappropriately resulting instead in misinterpretation due parental blame then child symptomatic distress exerting treatment interference effects too( Weintraub & Weintraub 2018 ). Dangers posed here involve heightened risk for disruption interfered through misrepresentation during early developmental stages possibly interfering effective therapeutic strategies later down the line where alternative solutions were overlooked initially . If left unchecked , this could set off chain reactions , jeopardizing overall care quality thus increasing future reoccurrence rates eventually affecting broader societal scale issues impacting public health initiatives significantly .