OCR Psychology A Level Book 2 sample

Background The historical context of mental health Topic 1 Diagnosing a disorder To diagnose a mental health disorder, a clinician will follow a similar procedure to when a physical disorder is being diagnosed. They check an individual’s symptoms in a supposedly objective manner and then check which disorder best fits those symptoms. This can explain why mental health problems are referred to as ‘mental illness ’ because psychiatrists (who are medical doctors) treat mental illness in the same way they treat physical illness. This is referred to as the medical model . However, in reality, there are no objective tests to identify a mental health disorder in the same way as a doctor can test blood pressure, for example. So clinicians have to rely on self-reports from the patient, or from people on their behalf. This can make a diagnosis a lot less valid than for physical conditions. The specification requires that you know the background to the topic area. For topic 1 this is divided into three parts: historical views of mental illness, defining abnormality and categorising mental illness. On this spread we look at how mental disorders are categorised. This spread covers the essential information you will need on background for the exam but you also need to link the background to issues and debates and to the key research. We will look at these links on page 18. Categorising mental disorders Categorising disorders is done by using a classification system, such as the two described on this spread. These classification systems provide a common means for clinicians to communicate about their patients. Classification systems also aim to provide a diagnosis. There are two main diagnostic systems that are used in the Western world, which will both be discussed on this spread. These systems are not designed to be competing, rather they are designed to work together, and nowadays most clinicians would combine the use of both. Using these diagnostic systems allows clinicians to identify a disorder and from that it allows the clinician to begin treatment for it. The main purpose of making a diagnosis is that it leads to a treatment. The founder of modern psychiatry Emil Kraepelin (1856–1926) was the first scholar to develop the idea of categorising and classifying mental health disorders. He was a German psychiatrist. Kraepelin initially divided mental illness into two main categories— psychoses and neuroses. • Psychoses are disorders where the patient loses touch with reality—suffering from hallucinations or delusions. • Neuroses are disorders that involve anxiety or disturbance. ICD History of the ICD ICD stands for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems . The current edition (at the time of writing) is ICD-10, which was released in 1993. It is produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is used internationally, including in the UK. The first international classification edition, known as the International List of Causes of Death , was produced in 1893 as a way of monitoring mortality and morbidity statistics (i.e. data on death and disease). The WHO became involved in 1948. The WHO describe the ICD as the ‘ standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes ’ (WHO 2016). It is used by physicians, nurses, researchers, policy makers and patient organisations. It is used to study disease patterns, as well as in clinical care to monitor outcomes, allocate resources and manage healthcare. The ICD is not just a book of mental disorders, but includes physical disorders too. ICD-10 ICD-10 is the 10th revision of this classification tool. In the ICD-10 there are 21 chapters, each with several categories and subcategories. Chapter V (Roman numeral five) is the category that relates to mental disorders, and comes under the title of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (F00–F99). Within chapter V there are 11 subcategories such as: • F30–39: Mood (affective) disorders. This includes mania, bipolar disorder and other mood disorders such as dysthymia, which is long bouts of depressive mood that are not severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of major depression . • F20–29: Schizophrenia , schizotypal and delusional disorders. This section includes different types of schizophrenia such as paranoid, hebephrenic and catatonic schizophrenia. It also includes other psychotic disorders such as delusional disorders, schizoaffective disorders and induced delusional disorder. You can find out more about each of these online. Chapter V also includes sections covering disorders of psychological development and mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use. F99 includes any mental disorders that have not been specified elsewhere. You can download the ICD-10 free of charge online, or access it here: tinyurl.com/7xsjoe4 You can also see sneak previews of the ICD-11 if you search online too. There is a lot of information about the DSM-5 available online, for example: tinyurl.com/zugz5ok Categorising mental disorders Chapter 1: Issues in mental health 14