Diagnosis and its clinical implications

With Nancy McWilliams, PhD & ABPP

Ever since the 1980 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, descriptive and categorical taxonomies such as the DSM and the ICD (International Classification of Diseases) have aimed at facilitating better research and providing a common language for categories of psychopathology. Every edition of the DSM since DSM-III has warned, however, that descriptive psychiatric diagnosis is insufficient to guide clinical treatment, and that for purposes of psychotherapy, clinicians must develop more nuanced case formulations.

Despite such caveats, it has become common for researchers to create manualized treatments for specific DSM-defined disorders, to test them on individuals who meet criteria for the chosen disorder without reported comorbidities, and to argue that such empirically tested treatments constitute the “gold standard” for clinical practice.

Dr. McWilliams notes that our current taxonomies reflect the influences of insurance companies particularly in the US, pharmaceutical corporations, governmental cost-cutters, and some academics more than the needs of patients and clinicians to mitigate psychological suffering in the most humane and effective ways. She will put the DSM and ICD taxonomies in historical context, mention several alternative approaches to diagnosis, and emphasize the value, with clinical examples, of a dimensional, inferential, contextual understanding of personality in guiding psychotherapy.

This workshop will include three sessions as well as time for discussion after each.

For booking details visit TR Together.