Psychology essay plan tailored to suit the AQA A-level Specification A syllabus.
The essay plans are colour coded to make revision slightly more interesting.
The essay plans are broken down into A01 and A02 criteria.
The A02 criteria has been broken down into research.
Research has been broken d...
“Outline + evaluate issues associated with the
classification + diagnosis of schizophrenia”
A01 –
The ICD (International Classification System for Diseases) + the DSM
(Diagnostic + Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) are used to diagnose
+ classify schizophrenia.
→ they may have issues of reliability, validity + cultural relativism.
ISSUE 1 - RELIABILITY
Reliability = extent to which multiple psychiatrists come to the same
conclusion in terms of diagnosing a patient with schizophrenia.
RELIABILITY ISSUE 1 - Classification system may not be reliable because
as more information about mental disorders arises, they are updated.
→ so classification system is constantly changing, which may reduce
reliability of classification of schizophrenia.
RELIABILITY ISSUE 2 – 2 manuals are used (DSM + ICD) so diagnosis
may depend on which manual is used.
→ this would reduce reliability of classification of schizophrenia.
RELIABILITY ISSUE 3 – psychiatrists may not agree with each other so
diagnosis may be subjective, depending on who they are being diagnosed
by.
→ psychiatrists may not agree because they rely on what patient tells
them, which could be open to interpretation.
↓
A02 –
RESEARCH 1 – Beck et al (1961)
POINT – supports the idea that patient diagnosis is subjective.
EVIDENCE – looked at the inter-rater reliability between 2 psychiatrists when
considering the cases of 154 patients. The reliability was only 54% (they only
agreed 54% of the time).
EXPLAIN – supports subjectivity of diagnosis because it shows the classification
tools may not always be reliable, if they were then the 2 psychiatrists should
have agreed close to 100% of the time.
EVALUATE 1 – weakness – small sample (only used 2 psychiatrists) – so findings
may not be generalizable beyond the study – weakens research support for
subjectivity of patient diagnosis.
REAL WORLD IMPLICATION – there are problems for patients if they do not get
diagnosed properly. If they don’t get diagnosed + they do have schizophrenia,
then they will not receive treatment so won’t get any better/may get worse. So
patient may be danger to themselves/others.
A01 –
ISSUE 2 – VALIDITY
Validity = the extent to which the diagnostic criteria really do measure
schizophrenia.
VALIDITY ISSUE 1 – symptoms of schizophrenia vary between patients +
patients don’t always fit neatly into the subtypes of schizophrenia.
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