Dysfunctional behaviour: Diagnosis

International Classification of Disease and Related Helth Problems 

- Chapter V is concerned with mental and behavioural disorders 

- The aim of early ICD's was to refine the definitions for disorders

- This allowed for inconsistencies to be removed and result in the clear set of criteria no in ICD-10

- The categories included: dementia, schizophrenia, mood disorders + personality disorders 

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 

- Field trials were used before publication 

- This manual was produced in the USA so cultural bias is a weakness

- Major difference is the multi-axial tool, used to asses the patient functioning on a scale of 1 to 100 

- This makes the DSM more hollistic than the ICD 

Statistical infrequency: "Abnormality" would refer to any behaviour that is not seen very often in society. However it is diffucult to use this on its own, for example high IQ may be encompassed. 

Deviation from social norms: If society does not approve of a behaviour then it is dysfunctional. However this will make some behaviours dysfunctional in cultures and not in others.

Failure to function adequately: Perhaps a more useful definitions is that if a person is not functioning in a way that enables them to live independently in soicety then they are 'dysfunctional'. There are several ways a person might not be functioning well. 

Deviation from ideal mental health: Psychologists often take the view that if you lack one thing then you must have the opposite. However we would have to condier what we mean by ideal mental health. Jahodao suggests that to have ideal mental health you should: - postivie view of yourself - capable of personal growth - accurate view of reality. 

Aim: To find out of clinicians were sterotyping genders when diagnosing disorders 

Methodology: Self-report, practioners given scenarios and asked to diagnose them

Participants: 345 clinical psychologists from 1127 randomly selected for the register 

Design: Independent measures, as each P wsa given male, female or unspecified 

Procedure: Participants were randomly provided with one of nine cases. Case studies of patients with anitsocial personalitiy disorder (ASPD) or histrionic personality disorder (HPD) or an equal balance sympotms from both disorders were gvien to each therapist. P's were asked to diagnose the illness by rating on a seven point scale the extent to which the patient appeared to have each of the nine disorders. 

Findings: 1. Sex-unspecified cases were diagnosed most often borderline personality disorder 2. ASPD was correctly diagnosed 42% in males and 15% in females 3. Females with ASPD were misdiagnosed with HPD nearly 50% of the time 4. HPD was correctly diagnosed in 76% of females and 44% of males 

Conclusions: Practioners are biased by sterotypical views of gender as there was a clear tendency to diagnose females with HPD even they have ASPD