The release of the DSM V created more controversy than any previous edition of the DSM. This seminar begins by exploring reasons for this, defining some of the inherent problems that come with parsing a client’s lived experience into distinct diagnostic categories. Topics such as the “false positive” problem, difficulties distinguishing risk from disorder, the need to include context when making diagnoses, and “fuzzy boundaries” between diagnostic categories will be addressed.
We will then review the DSM V criteria for diagnosing GAD, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, OCD and PTSD. In doing so, we will highlight common features among these disorders, that we may better understand their underlying mechanism. This mechanism will be elaborated according to the concept of essential or “core” fears and the defenses we maintain against them.
Such a perspective, we will propose, makes it possible to appreciate a client’s experience in a more adaptive way, one that lends depth of understanding and accounts for the distinctions between diagnoses. By understanding the basic mechanism underlying each of these anxiety disorders, we may explore their differences as “variations on a theme”, recognizing the unique response each has to factors such as people, objects and circumstances. Case studies will be offered to illustrate that this perspective can lend itself to more effective insight into a client, and therefore more effective treatment plans.
Learning Objectives
- State the basic criteria for diagnosing Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, OCD and PTSD, according to the DSM V.
- Explain several of the points of controversy over the DSM V classifications, including the “false positive” problem, the difficulty distinguishing risk from disorder, the need to include context in diagnostic criteria, and “fuzzy boundaries” between diagnostic categories.
- Define the commonalities amongst all these anxiety disorders as a means to more optimally appreciate clients’ lived experience of them and offer a more effective treatment plan accordingly.