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Essay on Social Work in Mental Health
Diagnostic assessment using the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual Under the guidelines of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association virtually any person could be diagnosed as having a mental disorder. What is the difference between the person who appears to be successfully dealing with their life, the person who requires individual or family counseling, and the person who requires more intensive interventions such as medication or hospitalization? For the most part the difference is a matter of degree, or severity of the problem.
One method of measuring a person’s need for mental health care is the Global Assessment of Functioning outlined by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM. This assessment tool rates the person’s capacity to function in three areas of their life; family, social and work or school. A person who is having severe problems coping in two or three of these areas needs help; likewise a person who is only having problems in one of these areas, but the problems are so debilitating that the person is totally nonfunctional in that area also needs help. A person who is only having mild to moderate problems in one or two of these areas can usually copy without outside intervention. A good rule of thumb to use in considering mental health care is how comfortable the individual is with their situation. If the individual is satisfied with the way their life is going, then intervention is most likely not needed.
In the absence of biological markers, which could help define the exact nature of a mental disorder and disentangle issues of comorbid symptomatology, diagnostic procedures have emphasized naming symptom clusters and identifying criteria for syndromes and mental disorders. It is essential that valid and reliable assessment instruments are available to study......
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