axes of personality disorders, Essays (university) of Psychology

Download axes of personality disorders and more Essays (university) Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Axes of Personality Disorders Subject: Psychology — Paper 1 Personality disorders are like tips of icebergs. They rest on a foundation of causes and effects, interactions and events, emotions and cognitions, functions and dysfunctions that together form the patient and make him or her what s/he is. The DSM uses five axes to research , classify, and describe these data. The patient (or subject) presents himself to a mental state diagnostician, is evaluated, tests are administered, questionnaires fulfilled, and a diagnosis rendered. The diagnostician uses the DSM's five axes to "make sense" and meaningfully organize of the knowledge he had gathered during this process. Axis I demands that he specify all the patient's clinical mental state problems that are not personality disorders or retardation . Thus, Axis I includes issues first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence; cognitive problems (e.g., delirium, dementia, amnesia); mental disorders because of a medical condition (for instance, dysfunctions caused by brain injury or metabolic diseases); substance-related disorders; schizophrenia and psychosis; mood disorders; anxiety and panic; somatoform disorders; factitious disorders; dissociative disorders; sexual paraphilias; eating disorders; impulse control problems and adjustment issues. We will discuss Axis II at length in our next articles. It comprises personality disorders and retardation (interesting conjunction!). If the patient suffers from medical conditions that affect his state of mind and mental state , these are noted under Axis III. Some psychological problems are directly caused by medical issues (hyperthyroidism causes depression). In other cases, the latter are concurrent with or exacerbate the previous . Virtually all biological illnesses may provoke changes within the patient's psychological make-up, behavior, cognitive functioning, and emotional landscape. But the machinery of life - both body and "soul" - is reactive also as proactive. it's molded by one's psychosocial circumstances and environment. Life crises, stresses, deficiencies, and inadequate support all conspire to destabilize and, if sufficiently harsh, ruin one's mental state . The DSM enumerates dozens of adverse influences that need to be recorded by the diagnostician under Axis IV: death within the family or of an thorough friend; health problems; divorce; remarriage; abuse; doting or smothering parenting; neglect; sibling rivalry; social isolation; discrimination; life cycle transition (such as retirement); unemployment; workplace bullying; housing or economic problems; limited or no access to health care services; incarceration or litigation; traumas and much of more events and situations. Finally, the DSM recognizes that the clinician's direct impression of the patient may be a minimum of as important as any "objective" data he may gather during the evaluation phase. Axis V allows the diagnostician to record his judgment of "the individual's overall level of functioning". This, admittedly, could also be a vague remit, hospitable ambiguity and bias. To counter these risk, the DSM recommends that mental state professionals use the worldwide assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale. Merely administering this structured test forces the diagnostician to formulate his views rigorously and to comb out cultural and social prejudices. Having skilled this long and convoluted process, the therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, or caseworker now features an entire picture of the subject's life, personal