Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis ( Versus DSM Diagnosis, Part 2 )

The DSM ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses) is the official manual of mental health disorders used by all mental health professionals to diagnose their patients. Your psychiatrist also uses this manual to diagnose your mental disorder. This manual, like the manual for physical illnesses, is based in an assessment of your symptoms. If you come to me or your psychiatrist, we are going to ask you about your symptoms. " 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." Your psychiatrist  and I will both know that these are the symptoms of depression and we will diagnose you with a depressive disorder. We will then choose the depressive disorder found in in the DSM  that best describes your symptoms. In this case we would diagnose you with Major Depressive Disorder. ( More to come. )

2Bill Huffman and David Moore