This monthly section of the site examines each and every DSM-5 diagnostic found therein. My hope is that by reading this section of the site, anyone happening upon the pages may find it easier to understand a specific diagnosis or set of co-occurring diagnoses with regard to an article’s main topic. Simultaneously, it is my hope to effectively “rule out” a similar yet different diagnostic or set thereof.
The inclusion of emotional, psychological, physiological, as well as cognitive / behavioral aspects of disorders may encompass a great deal. However, to simply consider human behavior as a list of symptoms seems to lack important details on behalf of any client or patient. To provide additional context and understanding of DSM-5 disorders, articles will include compatible theories to expand upon the categories and dimensionality provided by the DSM-5. Use of cognitive behavioral, narrative, or analytic theoretical discourse will provide supplemental ways to think about diagnosis and treatment on the behalf of clients, patients, and analysands alike.
With this in mind, two sets of cautions: If you are happening upon these pages when researching a particular disorder, or returning to learn more about various diagnostic criteria of several related syndromes, please note: Use of these pages much like the use of the DSM-5 for assessment and diagnosis of mental disorders “by non clinical, non medical or otherwise insufficiently trained individuals is not advised” (APA, 2013, emphasis mine). And, while the DSM may be a cornerstone within healthcare, it will never have a clarity of meaning or promise if not tethered to philosophical, theoretical, and analytical tenets from throughout history, as well as our current milieu.
My best wishes to those who find their way to these pages. May some of these entries be as interesting for you as they are for me! Especially when considering our potential as human beings, our capacity to surpass our worst traumas, intense fears, complicated and controversial relational patterns.
