Galatzer-Levy, I., & Bryant, R. (2013). 636,120 Ways to Have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8 (6), 651-662. Diagnostic categories are commonly used to identify, treat, and research mental illness. The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) uses a category system in which each category is made up of one or more criteria that contain a number of heuristically similar symptoms. Over time, the DSM has expanded disorder categories to include additional symptom presentations, which has led to disorder definitions that may be less exact. As an example of the heterogeneity of psychiatric disorders, Galatzer-Levy and Bryant used a binomial equation to calculate possible symptom combinations for PTSD and found 636,120 symptom presentations that would lead to a PTSD diagnosis. This finding is representative of inherent weaknesses within the DSM structure that are leading researchers and practitioners to consider new ways of conceptualizing mental disorder.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 00:50:26 +0000
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