Clinical Characteristics

Think back to last year… what do you already know about

how mental disorders are diagnosed?

What disorders are there according to the DSM? Can you guess?

Depression Schizophrenia Phobia General Anxiety Disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder Hoarding Caffeine withdrawal Internet gaming disorder

• To know the clinical characteristics of depression• To understand how they are used in practice• To evaluate the usefulness of clinical criteria

What do you need to know?

For the ‘Disorders’ section you need to know:The Clinical characteristics of 3 disorders: Phobia Depression SchizophreniaExplanations for Phobia using: Behavioural Cognitive Biological

Therapies for Phobia relating to each approach

• To know the clinical characteristics of depression• To understand how they are used in practice• To evaluate the usefulness of clinical criteria

Depression

Depression is probably one of the more common and most well known disorders

Many of us will know someone who has experienced it, or even experience it ourselves at some point

There is great variation in how people experience it and this is reflected in the different classifications• To know the clinical characteristics of depression

• To understand how they are used in practice• To evaluate the usefulness of clinical criteria

What do you already know?

Symptoms Duration Media Well known cases

Anything you know jot down.

• To know the clinical characteristics of depression• To understand how they are used in practice• To evaluate the usefulness of clinical criteria

• An affective mood disorder.• Characterised by sadness and

withdrawal.• Can range from mild to very

severe, and can even result in suicide.

• In Europe, around 5% of people are suffering from depression at any one time.

• Nearly everyone suffers from depression at some point in their lives, so it is very common.

• Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed then men.

Why?

Diagnostic Criteria

In order for someone to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder, they must meet certain criteria

You need to know these criteria or ‘clinical characteristics’ for the exam

Your booklet outlines them in brief

DSM Classification

5 or more: Depressed mood most of the day, nearly

every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). (In children and adolescents, this may be characterized as an irritable mood.)

Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day

Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.

The ‘bereavement exclusion’ no longer exists in the DSM 5

Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or

inappropriate guilt nearly every day Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or

indecisiveness, nearly every day Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying),

recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.

Present for: at least a 2 week periodExtra

reading opportunity: ‘The Book of

Woe’ by Gary

Greenberg.

Plenary task:

Decide whether or not these examples would be diagnosed as depressed

Hold up blue for diagnose, yellow for no diagnosis

Jane is under a lot of pressure during the last week at work and is not sleeping well at all. She has no appetite and has been irritable with colleagues. Her self-esteem has really suffered.

Joe has got very little energy even though he sleeps all the time. He finds it hard to get out of bed nearly every day. He used to love football, but now he just doesn’t really care. He is an easy going guy and quite confident in his own abilities.

Jake is always tired thanks to sleepless nights. He has lost a lot of weight and his appetite has diminished. He used to love playing the violin, but now he feels like he’s rubbish at it. His teachers get cross as he can’t seem to pay attention during lessons.

Grace has recently lost a loved one and is feeling very low indeed. She can’t sleep or eat, but during the day she is very fidgety and restless. Her friends have been supportive, but she is snapping a lot.

Was that straight forward? Were there any examples you disagreed with?

Homework Using your booklet but ALSO the

internet and/or text books

Research and summarise (APRCE) the following study:

- Ohman et al (1975)