Learning Objectives
- To critically think about and argue about the purpose of a diagnosis.
- To understand what qualifies a behaviour as “abnormal.”
- To practise discussing thresholds for mental health diagnosis.
Materials
- Media station.
- Student smartphones or computers.
Overview
This lab introduces psychopathology by discussing the distinction between normal and abnormal behaviour, examining the purposes, benefits, and detriments of diagnosis, and considering how criteria for mental health diagnoses are established.
Time Allocation
| Activity | Time |
|---|---|
| Introduction | 5 min |
| Group debate | 15 min |
| Diagnostic thresholds | 5 min |
| Establishing thresholds | 15 min |
| Wrap-up | 5 min |
| Question submission | 5 min |
Group debate
Let students discuss each prompt first in their groups, then take up their arguments with the class. Both sides can be reasonably defended.
- True or false: using a diagnostic manual such as the DSM-5 makes it fairly easy to diagnose clients. Be prepared to defend your position.
- True or false: diagnostic categorization results in labelling, and labelling people with mental disorders does more harm than good.
Diagnostic thresholds
Students use the Diagnosis Tool to take the role of a clinical committee setting criteria for a fictional Stress Regulation Disorder. Introduce the graph in one dimension, then two, then three. Begin by setting all thresholds to 7 and then to 4, observing which cases are included and how the prevalence changes.
Establishing thresholds
Assign groups a clinical service with one of three priorities: limited resources, a balanced approach, or early intervention. Groups choose cutoffs, record the percentage diagnosed, explain how the policy affected their decisions, and identify the additional information they would want before refining the thresholds.
Take-home message
- Many symptoms exist along continuous distributions, while diagnostic categories require cutoff decisions.
- Small threshold changes can produce large changes in prevalence, and people close to the cutoff may be very similar.
- Real diagnosis also considers functional impairment, distress, clinical judgement, context, and duration.
- The central question is how symptoms affect the person’s life and everyday functioning.
Final submission
After the discussions from today, what do you consider the most useful part of a diagnosis?