The historical development of the Social Work profession has given itself to many different views on how the practice of diagnosing fits in the schema of the social work profession. For this paper I will discuss and analyze the debate of the controversy of diagnosis in the social work field.
Liability and Malpractice
According to Gambrill (2002), Social work professionals make up for more than half of the mental health workforce. According to Harkness (2003), Clinical Social workers are usually the first to diagnosis mental disorders. However, it is also argued that having the license to diagnosis can make social workers liable. Failure to diagnosis or misdiagnosis that can lead to the harm of a client can become a case for malpractice. …show more content…
According to Ishibashi (2005) states: “In modern times, Western society has adopted terminology based on the medical model; e.g., mental illness and diagnosis. (pg. 65) A social worker will expected to look for pathology when working with a client, which the DSM helps facilitate. The argument is the social worker’s position becomes difficult because he or she must match the client with a specific diagnosis even though social workers need to assess clients and their symptoms continuously. Ishibashi (2005) states: “The DSM requires that symptoms be coded exclusively in terms of their presence or absence which is non-continuous” (Pg. 65). It is a belief that social worker is a profession that is supposed to fight against bias. Many families feel stigmatized due to the labels given to them by society as a whole or within their cultural surroundings. Labeling a client with a diagnosis can be crippling especially since there is already a stigma when it comes to mental health labels. There is a belief that because of society’s standards, the label of a diagnosis has to be placed on an individual who may be dealing with a natural difficulty in their lives. Wakefield (2013) states: “Many people have normal variations …show more content…
The DSM is based on the medical model of diagnosis, while the profession of Social work considers the impact of person-in-environment on human behavior (Corcoran & Walsh 2009). Social workers have to work within the construct of the inflexible diagnoses by assessing the quality of social functioning of a person in environment biologically, psychologically and socially (Cororan & Walsh 2009). While diagnosing identifies the internal issues, however it stops at that. It is the social worker’s job to deal with the external and internal factors of the individual. Graybeal (2001)states: “Pursuing a practice based on the ideas of resilience, rebound, possibility, and transformation is difficult, because oddly enough, it is not natural to the world of helping and service” (pg. 217). Social Workers practicing in the Strengths Based perspective means everything a social work professional does will be based on the identification, development, and utilization of the person’s strengths in order for the individual to be
Liability and Malpractice
According to Gambrill (2002), Social work professionals make up for more than half of the mental health workforce. According to Harkness (2003), Clinical Social workers are usually the first to diagnosis mental disorders. However, it is also argued that having the license to diagnosis can make social workers liable. Failure to diagnosis or misdiagnosis that can lead to the harm of a client can become a case for malpractice. …show more content…
According to Ishibashi (2005) states: “In modern times, Western society has adopted terminology based on the medical model; e.g., mental illness and diagnosis. (pg. 65) A social worker will expected to look for pathology when working with a client, which the DSM helps facilitate. The argument is the social worker’s position becomes difficult because he or she must match the client with a specific diagnosis even though social workers need to assess clients and their symptoms continuously. Ishibashi (2005) states: “The DSM requires that symptoms be coded exclusively in terms of their presence or absence which is non-continuous” (Pg. 65). It is a belief that social worker is a profession that is supposed to fight against bias. Many families feel stigmatized due to the labels given to them by society as a whole or within their cultural surroundings. Labeling a client with a diagnosis can be crippling especially since there is already a stigma when it comes to mental health labels. There is a belief that because of society’s standards, the label of a diagnosis has to be placed on an individual who may be dealing with a natural difficulty in their lives. Wakefield (2013) states: “Many people have normal variations …show more content…
The DSM is based on the medical model of diagnosis, while the profession of Social work considers the impact of person-in-environment on human behavior (Corcoran & Walsh 2009). Social workers have to work within the construct of the inflexible diagnoses by assessing the quality of social functioning of a person in environment biologically, psychologically and socially (Cororan & Walsh 2009). While diagnosing identifies the internal issues, however it stops at that. It is the social worker’s job to deal with the external and internal factors of the individual. Graybeal (2001)states: “Pursuing a practice based on the ideas of resilience, rebound, possibility, and transformation is difficult, because oddly enough, it is not natural to the world of helping and service” (pg. 217). Social Workers practicing in the Strengths Based perspective means everything a social work professional does will be based on the identification, development, and utilization of the person’s strengths in order for the individual to be