the
patient's current condition against
those norms, she or he can then determine
the patient's particular departure from
homeostasis and the degree of departure.
This is called the diagnosis. Once a
diagnosis has been reached, the doctor
is able to propose a management plan,
which will include treatment as well
as plans for follow-up. From this point
on, in addition to treating the patient's
condition, the doctor educates the patient
about the causes, progression, outcomes,
and possible treatments of his ailments,
as well as providing advice for maintaining
health.
It should be noted
however, that medical diagnosis in psychology
or psychiatry is problematic. Apart
from the fact that there are differing
theoretical views toward mental conditions
and that there are few "lab"
tests available for various major disorders
(e.g., clinical depression), a causal
analysis with respect to symptomatology
and disorder/disease is not always possible.
As a result, most if not all mental
conditions, function as both symptoms
as well as disorders. There are often
functional descriptions provided for
psychological disorders and these are
vulnerable to circular reasoning due
to the etiological fuzziness inherent
of these diagnostic categories. (BDG,
2006) |
