Classification of Psychopathology

Abstract

Abstract. Many have criticized the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders (DSM-IV), and few regard it as a vehicle of truth, yet its most serious limitation is that its frank operationism in defining manifest categories has distracted attention from theories about what is going on at the latent level. We sketch a Generalized Interpersonal Theory of Personality and Psychopathology and apply it to interpersonal aspects of depression to illustrate how structural individual differences combine with functional dynamic processes to cause interpersonal behavior and affect. Such a causal account relies on a realist ontology in which manifest diagnoses are only a means to learning about the latent distribution, whether categorical or dimensional. Comorbidity of DSM diagnoses suggests that dimensionality will be the rule, not the exception, with internalization and externalization describing common diagnoses.Key Words: Big Five, circumplex, complementarity, depression, Dimcat, expressed emotionThe fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) virtually holds a monopoly on the classification of psychopathology. Nearly every textbook on abnormal psychology uses DSM classifications so that, as a consequence, professors will choose the book as a way to prepare their students for successful careers in the helping professions; researchers who study psychopathology know that they probably will not receive grant funding unless they define their terms according to the DSM nomenclature. Because of the extraordinary prominence of the DSM in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and related professions, careful attention to the DSM's philosophical and methodological underpinnings seems warranted.The present article is divided into four parts. The first section provides a clear understanding of how the current DSM has evolved from its predecessors. The second section distinguishes functionalism from structuralism and applies this distinction to the DSM. The third section expands on an Theory & Psychology

Additional evidence for a quantitative hierarchical model of mood and anxiety disorders for DSM-V: The context of personality structure.

“…Understanding this relationship may require a theoretical network beyond the FFM constructs. If this relationship is related to conflict avoidance, potential constructs that may help explicate the severe internalizing pathology-low antagonism link include dependency or sociotropy (Beck, 1983; Blatt, D’Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976), low power motive (Emmons & McAdams, 1991), and low agency (Wiggins & Pincus, 1992), all of which have theoretical links to internalizing pathology (Acton, 2005). This finding is further consistent with a recent meta-analysis that demonstrated a positive correlation between A and anxiety disorders (Malouff et al, 2005).…”

Impairment and Distress Judgments of Symptoms Composing Childhood Externalizing and Internalizing Syndromes

“…Achenbach (1991) described internalizing and externalizing groups of symptoms, respectively, as ''problems of withdrawal, somatic complaints, and anxiety/depression, on the one hand, and delinquent and aggressive behavior, on the other' ' (p. 66). This distinction, first established four decades ago (Achenbach 1966), continues to have significant heuristic value in research concerning the classification (e.g., Acton and Zodda 2005), description (e.g., Staller 2006), etiology (e.g., Oldehinkel et al 2004), comorbidity (e.g., King et al 2004), underlying personality traits (De Clercq et al 2006) and treatment (Weisz et al 2004) of childhood psychopathology.…”

Psychosocial Correlates of Alexithymia in a Rural Adolescent Residential Population

“…The process of gender intensification can inhibit the task of identity formation in females, and is associated with negative affectivity of anger and shame (Erikson, 1968), and greater risk for internalizing behaviors (Acton & Zodda, 2005). Unfortunately, many inpatient or residential interventions tend to focus on problematic externalizing behaviors consistent with male adolescents.…”