WHY IS THE ISSUE OF MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSIS SO IMPORTANT?

ISN'T IT JUST A LABEL?

The topic of assessment, diagnosis, and classification is boring to some, but this function is absolutely critical to our science and to quality clinical practice. Although the DSM is intended to be a guide and scientifically should be viewed as a “work in progress,” given its highly structured and definitive nature, clinicians are at some risk to reify it, essentially taking it too seriously, and acting as if the diagnosis were the complete story, rather than one essential component of the patient’s, client’s, or family’s story. Given the rapid strides that are being made in the developmental neurosciences, the attractiveness of lovely neuroimages, and the persuasive stories of brain differences between some clinical group and controls, there is a risk that we forget, or at least underestimate, the impact of family and peer environmental influences in shaping brain development, personality function, and psychopathology. This area is among the most difficult to study, since the phenomena are often so “fuzzy,” but given pervasive impact of family and peers on development, this area is also among the most critical.

COMPREHENSIVE, ACCURATE PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES ESSENTIAL:

The REACH Institute views a comprehensive assessment to be the sine qua non of high quality evidence-based prevention and treatment intervention approaches. Tools that can assist busy clinicians in performing comprehensive assessments are tools such as parent-and patient- self-report rating scales. Rating scales may focus on specific symptoms that are part of a diagnosis, or they assess important risk factors such as severity of recent stressors, family functioning, peer relations, or any of the risk and protective factors that affect children’s outcomes. Such rating scales may have immediate clinical relevance: if a particular risk factor is elevated or a protective factor is below normal, clinicians can use this information in their clinical efforts to move these factors to more therapeutic levels, in their efforts to assist children and families. All of the REACH Institute training courses and continuing education (CME) programs place a strong emphasis on helping clinicians identify and apply the rating scales and other tools that will aid them in conducting comprehensive assessments of the child’s complete “story." With an adequate and comprehensive assessment, the treatment will always be either flat out wrong, or at best incomplete.

TRAINING PROGRAMS IN CHILD PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS

To learn more about the REACH Institute's training courses, including our continuing education and continuing medical education (CME) courses in ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, conduct and oppositional-defiant disorders, bipolar disorder, autism and autism spectrum disorders, please click on our Continuing Education and CME programs link. All of our continuing education training programs make extensive use of rating scales to help clinicians conduct a thorough assessment by offering many user-friendly toolkits and free materials on our website.

We take full advantage of the new technologies available through distance learning and online training methods, such as webinars, chat rooms, and listservs.  Given REACH's non-profit status and our growing donor base, free or low-cost CME and continuing education may also be available.  Please inquire if you think you or your agency might qualify.