Lecture Nine; Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis ( Part 2 )

The DSM (Diagnostic and  Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is the official manual of mental health disorders used by mental health professionals to diagnose their patients. This manual, like the manual for physical illnesses, helps your therapist decide on a diagnosis based on your symptoms....... If you come to me for neuropsychoanalytic psychotherapy, I will begin with asking you, "What hurts? In what way does it hurt? How long have you been hurting?  What unpleasant feeling are you suffering from? "Let's say you answer the questions this way: " I am having trouble sleeping. I have lost weight. I have been crying a lot. I feel sad. I do not want to do anything. I have lost pleasure in everything. I have no joy. I feel worthless and I sometimes feel that the world would be a better place without me. I have seriously thought of suicide." I will  know that these are the symptoms of depression,  and we will diagnose you with some type of depressive disorder. I will then choose the specific depressive disorder found in the DSM  that best matches your symptoms. In your  case I would diagnose you as having Major Depressive Disorder. ( More to come. )

2Bill Huffman and David Moore