Langwinski AMFT 6102-1 PDF

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Assignment for week 1 of 6102 course...

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The Roles of Diagnosis in the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy Alyssa Langwinski School of Marriage and Family Therapy, Northcentral University MFT-6102 v5: Psychopathology, Diagnosis, and System Treatment Dr. Brock Sumner December 11, 2021

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The Roles of Diagnosis in the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) aim at helping clients, families or individuals, in any way possible. Providing a clinical diagnosis for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5 is helpful for a client to know what they are dealing with and the therapist. Therapists can use a diagnosis to figure out the path to treatment. There are some limitations to a DSM-5 diagnosis, for example, labeling, oversimplification, misdiagnosis, overdiagnoses, or stigmatization. Clients can feel that the label becomes the new identity, stigmatizing within their community: different cultures, norms, and social factors impact diagnosis and systems individually. The way clients describe their symptoms differs culturally as well. Positive psychology is all about focusing on the positive influences in clients’ life including strengths and emotions. Addressing these elements of positive individual traits could be by teaching the client self-care while also replacing negative feelings with more positive emotions. As MFTs, it is their duty to serve best the clients, which includes making a diagnosis. With a diagnosis, a therapist can lay out a pathway to treatment that is specialized according to their symptoms. A diagnosis can put a client’s mind at ease; some might refuse help if there is no name to what they describe as their problem. If clients are coming into therapy and using insurance to pay, many insurance companies require a DSM diagnosis to pay for complete treatment. Having a DSM diagnosis also differentiates patients’ disorders from non-disorders, guiding the way to treatment plans (Buckley, 2014). Diagnosis assist MFTs in determining clinical needs for the clients and outcomes While Diagnosis only focused on symptoms medically beforehand, the DSM-5 was developed to account for the complex factors involved in emotional and mental disorders in a multidimensional nature (Petrovich & Garcia, p 31, 2015). However, the DSM-5 also has

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limitations. Some weaknesses from Petrovich and Garcia included minimal multidisciplinary input in formulation/decision making, predictors of successful treatment outcomes being ignored, emphasis on pathology while strengths are being missed, and affecting reliability and validity, all (pgs. 36-41, 2015). Those are some limitations specifically described. Minimal Multidisciplinary input in DSM formulation heavily focuses on medical information or psychiatrists. Often leaving therapists who merely understand human complexity without medication. The DSM ignores client characteristics that are most powerful to predict the outcome of treatment by rushing into a diagnosis for medical or even financial reasons (Petrovich & Garcia, p. 38, 2015). Pathology is all labeling, finding a reason behind the symptoms. A diagnosis “label” often interferes with client self-awareness or identity leaving it difficult to fight against negative stereotypes (Petrovich & Garcia, p. 39, 2015). The diagnosis can exacerbate the problem. Mental health is a forever changing complex nature. “Creating the one-label DSM-5 system, designed to make psychiatry appear as “scientific” as the rest of medicine, does not correct the essential reality of complexity in mental health diagnosis and may ultimately make the problem worse by obscuring this issue” (Petrovich & Garcia, p. 42, 2015). Cultural factors as well as social for instance: age, sex, gender, ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status all play a factor in every therapy session; therefore, it plays a huge role in diagnosing. There are some cultures out there that consider symptoms a health illness a weakness. If any emotional symptoms are there some cultures may not be supported by their culture if they display them to others. Diverse social factors impact symptoms and diagnosis as well. For example, those in lower socioeconomic status or poor neighborhoods may experience emotional symptoms differently as it can be there normal. Like, for instance, is gangs go around beating up people in their neighborhood every day there may be no anxiety as it is normal, but

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for someone not in that diverse community, it would not be normal and have more emotional symptoms of anxiety. Positive psychology is the study of focusing on clients’ interests, skills, positive relationships instead of the solution to a problem. The aim of positive psychology is to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation with repairing the worst about life to building positive qualities (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Focusing on a client’s strengths rather than their problems is what positive psychology is about. Addressing the positive psychology in MFT sessions would include building up self-esteem and teaching self-care, to think more positively about even the worst situation. Creating a meaningful relationship to experience positive emotions for clients to bring into their own relationships could be another way of addressing positive psychology elements.

References

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Buckley, M. R. (2014). Back to basics: using the DSM-5 to benefit clients. The Professional Counselor, 4(3), 159+.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A397266629/AONE?

u=pres1571&sid=ebsco&xid=fc74bf a8 Petrovich, A., & Garcia, B. (2015). Chapter 2: Adding diversity and resiliency to the diagnostic process: A formulation. In Strengthening the DSM: Incorporating resilience and cultural competency (2nd ed., pp. 29-54). Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive Psychology: An Introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14....