RE: Discussion Question
A. Response to Diana Chapter 1 DSM (150 word minimum and peer reviewed reference)
Hello Dr. Portis and class,
I wanted to share my thoughts on chapter one in this week’s material. According to
Butcher, Mineka, & Hooley, (2014) “Within DSM-5, a mental disorder is defined as a syndrome that is present in an individual and that involves clinically significant disturbance in behavior, emotion regulation, or cognitive functioning.” This chapter covers the DSM in detail, and I think that this tool is one of the most important tools in psychology. The first DSM was published in 1952 and it has been revised five more times, the most recent in 2013. I believe that it is the most important tool because it helps with the disorders, abnormal aspect of the mind. One of the most important features of the DSM is its “Provision of diagnostic criteria to improve the reliability of diagnostic judgements.” (DSM IV, 1996). And most importantly a direction for treatment. In all honestly the DSM simply enhances agreements of the criteria among professionals. Still it is all we have with reliable information to work from. In going over this chapter I learned that there is a negative side to such classifications within the manual. So much classification of a person can allow you to lose personal information specific to that person. It also creates stereotypes and labels that hurt. I hope I have explained myself correctly so I make sense. What do you all think? Thanks for your time.
References
Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S., & Hooley, J. M. (2014). Abnormal psychology (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
B. Response to video from Terry the instructor from video what is normal that was previously answered in 1st set of discussion questions. (150 word minimum)
Take a look and then discuss one or two of these thoughts: (150 word minimum and 1 peer reviewed reference)
- A friend wants to eat dirt all the time. Is this behavior abnormal?
- All your coworkers eat together except Bill. He locks himself in his office, burns candles, and chants for an hour. How might this be considered abnormal?
- Whenever Susan has a rough day, she goes to the mall and shops until she feels better, or runs out of money, anything abnormal about that?