DSM-5: Psychopathology and Diagnosis

The very purpose of DSM-5 is to facilitate communication between mental health providers to insure a common understanding our findings and treatment goals. For our final discussion, we are going to turn our attention slightly towards the processes of communicating our findings to non-mental health providers. Here I would like you to focus on how the diagnosis might impact how you communicate your findings to a couple of different groups: the patient, non-mental health providers (like doctors, educators, etc.) and support systems. Specifically, look to sharing information regarding:

1) Progressive Disorders (things likely to worsen over the course).

2) Disorders likely to be static, unchanging over the course.

3) Disorders in which a pattern of active and remittance periods are present.

4) Disorders where treatment outcomes tend to be poor.