When a psychologist sees a new patient, they must determine what type of disorder if any the patient is suffering from. Diagnosis is an important task for psychologist and it can be challenging because it is not easy to classify patient’s behavior. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is used to by therapist to diagnose patients. The DSM provides information on the many disorders and gives the criteria for classifying mental disorders (Stangor, 2010). According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the “DSM consists of three major components: the diagnostic classification, the diagnostic criteria sets, and the descriptive text” (2015). A therapist with a new patient that displays symptoms of anxiety, mood
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I do believe that there is a serious problem with the increase in ADHD diagnoses of children. Mental disorders have been around for a long time. It does not make since that a society that is getting smarter should be experiencing an increase in mental disorders. I can understand how an adult or even a adolescent could be diagnosed with ADHD, but it is hard for me to see why a young child is diagnosed. Often it is the child’s behavior in school that is noticed by teachers. When children are just entering school, they are transitioning from an environment where it was play all day to an environment where they have to devote a lot of attention to one specific person. I think the environment affects how easily this transition is made. A child that has a parent that reads to them every so often may adjust faster than a child who just has toys placed in front of them all the time. I just do not understand how we can expect all children to develop at the same pace when they are living in different environments. I must first mention that I am not a fan of medicine. I know that they have their uses but if I can avoid them, which I mostly do, I will. I do not like that there are children being prescribed medication for ADHD. If this is a mental disorder, then drugs will have to affect something in the brain to result in the desired behavior. If drugs are the way to alter a child’s behavior then they will always be depending on the drugs for the rest of their life. I can’t imagine that there would not be any side effects from the prolonged use of medications, especially ones that are meant to treat mental
I do believe that there is a serious problem with the increase in ADHD diagnoses of children. Mental disorders have been around for a long time. It does not make since that a society that is getting smarter should be experiencing an increase in mental disorders. I can understand how an adult or even a adolescent could be diagnosed with ADHD, but it is hard for me to see why a young child is diagnosed. Often it is the child’s behavior in school that is noticed by teachers. When children are just entering school, they are transitioning from an environment where it was play all day to an environment where they have to devote a lot of attention to one specific person. I think the environment affects how easily this transition is made. A child that has a parent that reads to them every so often may adjust faster than a child who just has toys placed in front of them all the time. I just do not understand how we can expect all children to develop at the same pace when they are living in different environments. I must first mention that I am not a fan of medicine. I know that they have their uses but if I can avoid them, which I mostly do, I will. I do not like that there are children being prescribed medication for ADHD. If this is a mental disorder, then drugs will have to affect something in the brain to result in the desired behavior. If drugs are the way to alter a child’s behavior then they will always be depending on the drugs for the rest of their life. I can’t imagine that there would not be any side effects from the prolonged use of medications, especially ones that are meant to treat mental