Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts Penelope Sweep

“For me being depressed means you can spend all day in bed, and still not get a good night’s rest.”  Anonymous

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Diagnosis and Treatment: Answers

1. Explain why diagnosing a mental illness such as depression is not as precise a process as diagnosing a physical disease.
Diagnosing a mental illness such as depression is not as precise because the symptoms are not as evident, as if you have chicken pox or a flu. It is also difficult to diagnose them because it depends on the person, and their mental and emotional balance, which they are not the same always. Many mental illnesses also have over lapping symptoms.

2. What is the DSM-IV and how is it used in the diagnoses and treatment of depression?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and Mental of Mental Disorder is a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that includes all currently recognized mental illnesses. The coding system utilized by the DSM-IV is designed to correspond with codes from the International Classification of Diseases, commonly referred to as the ICD. Since early versions of the DSM did not correlate with ICD codes and updates of the publications for the ICD and the DSM are not simultaneous, some distinctions in the coding systems may still be present. For this reason, it is recommended that users of these manuals consult the appropriate reference when accessing diagnostic codes.

3. Explain how the culture a person belongs to can influence whether or not they are diagnosed with a mental illness such as depression.
The culture of a person is very important because the culture of the person influences her behavior. The way the people think, if they are pessimist and believe they are the worst. This can be diagnosed as a mental illness but this is just a pattern of behavior in their culture. Also because the culture influences people to know how they react to certain situations, and every culture/person has a different reaction. 

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