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Abnormal Psychology

Classifying Abnormality Paper

Alycia Moss

PSY/410

September 7, 2011

Laurie Rhia

Classifying Abnormality Paper

Many efforts have been made to try to classify abnormal behavior, by utilizing some type of

diagnostic categorizing system. These efforts have progressed from methods that vaguely lists

disorders, to more thorough, modern methods, like DSM- IV- TR, this method lists numerous

amounts of different mental disorders. Psychopathology is the study of mental illness,

abnormal/maladaptive behavior. Psychopathology is a term commonly used in psychiatry

whereas pathology relates to disease progressions.

The standard classification system for psychopathology is the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual

(DSM-1). The DSM is a manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association, listing the

official diagnostic classifications of mental disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders (DMS-1) is the official manual listing psychiatric and psychological disorders.

This manual was published by the American Psychiatric Association in 1952, takes its coding

scheme from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is a diagnostic manual for

all medical diseases. The DSM was commonly used by physicians/medical professionals,

insurance companies and many courts systems. Courts used the DSM to define and diagnose

mental disorders, and the diagnostics code that was attached to the case would regulate insurance

reimbursements for treating the individual.

The controversy amongst the DSM-1 and DSM-II was due to the United States being controlled

by Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, which focused on the origins of mental illness and the

unconscious mind, consequently it fixated on conditions of the unconscious struggles opposed to

conditions of observable signs in classifying mental disorders. The categories recorded in the

DSM-1 and DSM-II relied on theoretical psychodynamic concepts like, neurosis. Neurosis was

defined as a mental illness containing symptoms triggered by unconscious emotive struggles. As

you might guess, the reliability of the DSM-I and DSM-II systems tended to be

quite poor because of the vagueness of such categories (Beck et al., 1962; Tarter, Templer,

& Hardy, 1975). As a result of the controversy between DSM-1 and DSM-II, DSM-III was

published. The DSM-III was created with two goals in mind. One was improving the validity and

reliability of diagnostics classifications. The APA’s objective was to make diagnosing standards

in the manual simpler and as detailed as possible. The APA’s other goal was to make the

Diagnostic and Statistics Manual III not created on theoretical perspectives. In short, the authors

of the DSM-III hoped that creating a more detailed and purely descriptive diagnostic manual

would produce more reliable and valid diagnoses and reduce theoretical squabbling (APA,

1994).

The greatest advantage of the modern DSM approach has been the partial achievement

of its primary goal—improved reliability and validity of diagnoses of psychopathology

(APA, 2000). This proved to be greatly important since diagnostic systems appear to be

impractical without the proper data, research, validity and reliability and treatment in the

psychological field. Even though the reliability and validity of the modern DSM system still

leave much to be desired (Barron, 1998; Beutler & Malik, 2002; Hilsenroth et al., 2005;

Wakefield, 1992), the new system represents a milestone as the first diagnostic system for

psychopathology ever to approximate the goal of adequate reliability and validity. The second

advantage is that the DSM-III has improved medical professionals mindfulness of how important

the diagnosis really is. Even though the reliability and validity of the modern DSM system still

leave much to be desired (Barron, 1998; Beutler & Malik, 2002; Hilsenroth et al., 2005;

Wakefield, 1992), the new system represents a milestone as the first diagnostic system for

psychopathology ever to approximate the goal of adequate reliability and validity.

Many critics focus on what they see as the DSM’s failure to adequately achieve its own

primary goal of achieving acceptable reliability and validity (Beutler & Malik, 2002;

Kirk & Kutchins, 1994). Some critics even contend that the new system has actually

decreased the validity of diagnoses (Barron, 1998; Wakefield, 1992). The moderrn DSM has

been criticized for using the theoretical approach opposed to the atheoretical approach. The

theoretical approach tends to lean towards the biological perspective, but the writers of the

modern DSM claim that it was revised to be more atheoretical with diagnosis. Finally, the

current DSM system has been criticized for being culturally biased (Eriksen & Kress, 2005;

Rogler, 1993). Since psychopathology varies among different cultures and history, there is

always the risk of mistaking something abnormal when it is normal in someone’s culture or vice

versa. For example, anthropologists interested in psychopathology have pointed out that talking

to dead relatives is considered normal in many cultures, yet it could easily be misinterpreted as a

pathological psychotic hallucination by a clinician from a different cultural background (Liester,

1998). Because this concern was raised about the DSM-III (Kleinman, 1987, 1996), the DSMIV-

TR explicitly discusses cultural variations in psychopathology, with descriptions of

“culture-bound syndromes” and suggestions for helping clinicians consider cultural context when

making diagnoses (APA, 2000).

References

Hansell, J. & Damour, L. (2008). Abnormal psychology (2nd ed). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

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Abnormal Psychology Classifying Abnormality Paper Alycia Moss PSY/410 September 7, 2011 Laurie Rhia Classifying Abnormality Paper Many efforts have been made to try to classify abnormal behavior, by utilizing some type of diagnostic categorizing system. These efforts have progressed from methods that vaguely lists disorders, to more thorough, modern methods, like DSM- IV- TR, this method lists numerous amounts of different mental disorders. Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, abnormal/maladaptive behavior. Psychopathology is a term commonly used in psychiatry whereas pathology relates to disease progressions. The standard classification system for psychopathology is the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-1). The DSM is a manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association, listing the official diagnostic classifications of mental disorders. The Diagnostic a ...
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