Diagnose This If You Can

[Spacescifi]

33 minutes ago, Nuke said:

according to the dsm-v, everyone is crazy.

 

Correction...all human beings are prone to making errors. Sometimes even ones that are basically crazy.

But there is a difference between doing a crazy action and being crazy.

I take the latest research on the human condition that has existed from the beginning of human civilization with a grain of salt.

They may be partially right...but they are never totally correct. Otherwise they would not need to revise a dozen times over.

[Nuke]

5 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

 

Correction...all human beings are prone to making errors. Sometimes even ones that are basically crazy.

But there is a difference between doing a crazy action and being crazy.

I take the latest research on the human condition that has existed from the beginning of human civilization with a grain of salt.

They may be partially right...but they are never totally correct. Otherwise they would not need to revise a dozen times over.

have you read the dsm-v. its got something for everyone. p.t. barnum would be proud. it certainly drums up business for the mental health industry.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

39 minutes ago, Nuke said:

have you read the dsm-v. its got something for everyone. p.t. barnum would be proud. it certainly drums up business for the mental health industry.

 

Oh no...I simply don't trust businesses who often have ulterior motives...especially anything having to do with healthcare.

Case in point, my mother needed to visit a specialist doctor but her insurance gave her the run around saying something about verification.

Turns out later the place my mom wanted to go because it was a lot closer to where she actually lives call her up and says, "So your INS did not even need verification, we can take you in immediately! Apparently your INS expected (desired) that you visit an office farther away from where you live instead." The local office had to call to figure that out.

Now why on Earth would INS behave this way? I thought PPO means go wherever you want? 

PPO's: "Well...it does, but it will be a lot easier for you if you only go to the places we direct you.

Anyone: "Why is that?"

Likely Reason: Follow the money. Medical is guaranteed pay, since no one wants to be sick or die. I believe PPO's have arrangements with specific doctor offices so as to funnel patients who live in certain location there, even if it is inconveinient for the patient. Why?  The doctor your INS want to pay probably charges INS less I presume? Everything boils down to dollars.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Spacescifi

[Okhin]

The DSM-5 is a tool, not really made by the industry by the way, more by doctors (which, by itself is an issue). This tools is meant to help diagnose issues you can find in people you know have mental health issues. Yes, it is wide in its symptoms and classifications, and yes it is a tool of classification (which, by itself, can raise some issue, for instance homosexuality was considered an illness by a previous version of the DSM (iirc, the DSM-IV removed it), and it is regularly updated to the expert knowledge. The DSM-5 is now a living document (which means, I guess, that there'll be no DSM-6, just updates of the DSM-5).

But no, not everyone is sick according to the DSM-5. And yes, the DSM defines neuroatypical people as sick, but then again, it is something written by doctors, so yeah, they tend to categorize people in two pools: sick people and non-sick people.

As a tool, it can be used to help diagnose someone who's in pain. And that should be the only purpose of it. If you're not suffering, then you do not need a diagnosis, hence you do not belong into the DSM-5 (or the ICD, which is published by the Doctor at WHO and covers all illness, including mental ones).

It's like thinking that, because you have a headache, you have a brain tumor if you want. Yes, it might. But a brain tumor generally comes with other symptoms, and there's so many illness who have headaches as symptoms that you cannot just have a diagnosis based solely on headaches (which is why doctor will, generally first try to help you with the headaches and, if it get worse, they'll run different analysis, form least painfull and invasive, to worse, in order to figure out what is happening).

Being sad, or even depressed for some time, for instance after the loss of a dear one, is normal. However, it will be in the DSM-5 classified as depression. Along with another symptom that must be present to be considered as Severe Anxiety Disorder : it must last longer than a fixed amount of weeks (I do not remember the exact number). If it does not, it's mostly sadness. painfull, unberrable sadness, but still sadness. Not a disorder (which tends to be long term). So not really classified as such by the DSM.

And that's the trick with diagnosis, whatever the field (even in computer science). You must match all the symptoms. And so, you must know what the symptoms of a sickness is. That's why you have the DSM, to list symptoms and helps diagnosticians to figures out what is happening with this person in pain.

That's also why tracking Covid-19 in the beginning was hard, because we did not really knows the symptoms (and how they differed from, for instacne, seasonal flu). We are better at it now, and there's probably a part of the ICD that can now gives you a symptom lists specific to the Covid-19 (even if it's safer to just do a test).

And that's also why I think you cannot diagnose any kind of mental health issue without a long introspection of the person you're trying to diagnose. Because being weird is not a diagnosis, or an illness, and it's not in the DSM either.

And yes, I fully reckon that the DSM have a lot of issues. But that's the document policymaker and insurance use to gives you money in case of sickness, so it's better if it's a bit broader than it needs to be I guess, especially in the field of mental health where most people (including doctors and patients) do not really understand what is happening, what is the source of pain, and how can you alleviate this pain.

And for the health insurance part, I'm sorry for you American people, your situation really sucks. I really hope it get fixed one day or another, ideally sooner (because here in FR, their trying to implement the same excrements you have there, and nope, we do not want it). But then again, I do not think this is related to the DSM somehow.