Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
The movie, “As Good as It Gets,” describes a person who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is an anxiety disorder and it contains a group of conditions that share similar characteristics. Anxiety disorders all typically become aroused when a person experiences apprehension over an anticipated problem. There are physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms which are elicited from the apprehension. Physical symptoms may include increased heart rate, accelerated respiration, sweating, and trembling. Cognitive indications may include preoccupation, a loss of concentration, and rumination. Emotional responses may include apprehensiveness and terror. These symptoms result from the “flight or fight” response triggered in
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This debate is to be welcomed if doctors can appreciate the challenges of better diagnosing. They must also embrace the importance of treating and caring for people with mental health conditions. These challenges are likely to persist in the decades to come. Rather than seeing the DSM-5 as the “Psychiatric Bible”, it may be better to think of it as a rudimentary travel guide to a land we have barely begun to explore.
While the DSM in general and the DSM-5 in particular have limitations, they do have supporters in the world of mental health. In fact, many mental health professionals are proud to defend the DSM-5 and its principles. Some may cite the fact that a diagnostic guide is invaluable for doctors in the mental health field, given the overall misinformation in our world about mental health. While the DSM may be a flawed classification system, subject to biases and lacking empirical proof, it is likely to be better than anything else currently …show more content…
In the instance of GAD, a challenge faced by the field is the absence of concrete pre-determined criteria necessary to assess the condition in patients. In terms of GAD the "diagnostic threshold" was lowered in DSM. In previous versions of DSM, GAD was defined as having any three of six symptoms, such as restlessness, a sense of dread, and feeling constantly on edge, for at least three months. In DSM-5, this has been revised to having just one to four symptoms for at least one month. Critics suggest that this lowering of the threshold could lead to people with "everyday worries" as being misdiagnosed and needlessly
This debate is to be welcomed if doctors can appreciate the challenges of better diagnosing. They must also embrace the importance of treating and caring for people with mental health conditions. These challenges are likely to persist in the decades to come. Rather than seeing the DSM-5 as the “Psychiatric Bible”, it may be better to think of it as a rudimentary travel guide to a land we have barely begun to explore.
While the DSM in general and the DSM-5 in particular have limitations, they do have supporters in the world of mental health. In fact, many mental health professionals are proud to defend the DSM-5 and its principles. Some may cite the fact that a diagnostic guide is invaluable for doctors in the mental health field, given the overall misinformation in our world about mental health. While the DSM may be a flawed classification system, subject to biases and lacking empirical proof, it is likely to be better than anything else currently …show more content…
In the instance of GAD, a challenge faced by the field is the absence of concrete pre-determined criteria necessary to assess the condition in patients. In terms of GAD the "diagnostic threshold" was lowered in DSM. In previous versions of DSM, GAD was defined as having any three of six symptoms, such as restlessness, a sense of dread, and feeling constantly on edge, for at least three months. In DSM-5, this has been revised to having just one to four symptoms for at least one month. Critics suggest that this lowering of the threshold could lead to people with "everyday worries" as being misdiagnosed and needlessly