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Classification of Psychiatric Disorders by Dr. Fatima

This document discusses the classification of psychiatric disorders. It explains that psychiatric disorders are diagnosed based mainly on symptoms, unlike physical conditions which are often classified based on etiology or structural pathology. The purposes of psychiatric classification include making diagnoses, facilitating communication, generalizing treatment responses, and aiding research. The document then outlines various classification approaches including categorical, dimensional, and multiaxial and provides examples of basic categories of disorders. It also distinguishes between organic and non-organic disorders as well as neuroses and psychoses.

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Rahul Kumar Diwakar
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280 views12 pages

Classification of Psychiatric Disorders by Dr. Fatima

This document discusses the classification of psychiatric disorders. It explains that psychiatric disorders are diagnosed based mainly on symptoms, unlike physical conditions which are often classified based on etiology or structural pathology. The purposes of psychiatric classification include making diagnoses, facilitating communication, generalizing treatment responses, and aiding research. The document then outlines various classification approaches including categorical, dimensional, and multiaxial and provides examples of basic categories of disorders. It also distinguishes between organic and non-organic disorders as well as neuroses and psychoses.

Uploaded by

Rahul Kumar Diwakar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classification of

Psychiatric Disorders

Dr. Fatima Alhaidar


Professor & Consultant
Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
College of Medicine, KSU.
Introduction:

 Most of physical conditions are classified on the basis of


etiology, e.g.: viral pneumonia.
Or
On the basis of structural pathology, e.g.:
Bronchopneumonia.
Or
Based on symptoms, e.g. migraine.

 Psychiatric disorders are diagnosed based mainly on


symptoms.
Few are based on etiology e.g. Alzheimer’s disease.
Purposes of Classification:

1. To make generally acceptable diagnosis.


2. To facilitate communication between psychiatrists,
other doctors and professionals.
3. To make generalizations in treatment response,
course & prognosis of individual patients.
4. To make framework for research in psychiatry.
Types of Classification

1. Categorical Classification:

- Grouping disorders into separate entities according to


symptom – pattern, course and outcome.
- It includes hierarchal categories.
e.g.: Organic mental disorders then functional psychotic
disorders (e.g. Schizophrenia) then neurotic disorder
(e.g. generalized anxiety disorder) then personality
disorders.
- Also it includes in-built hierarchy of significance
within the disorders themselves.
e.g.: Anxiety symptoms occur commonly with
depressive disorder.
2. Dimensional Classification:

- Diagnosing individual patients by giving him scores


on separate dimensions.

e.g. Psychoticism, neuroticism, introversion and


extroversion
3. Multiaxial Approach:

- Applied to schemes of classifications in which two or


more separate sets of information are coded
e.g. DSM, ICD
The Basic Categories of Classification in Psychiatry:

1. Mental Retardation – impairment of intellectual


functioning, present continuously from early life.
2. Personality Disorders – a pattern of inner feeling
experience and behavior that deviates markedly from
the expectations of the individual’s culture, presents
continuously since adolescence or early adulthood.
3. Mental Disorders – abnormality of behavior or
psychological experience with recognizable onset after
a period of normal functioning.
4. Stress related or adjustment disorders.
5. Other Disorders – e.g. Sexual disorders, drug
dependence
6. Learning and developmental disorders.
7. Disorders with onset in childhood or adolescence.
Psychiatric Disorders

Organic Non-Organic

Acute Chronic Others Psychoses Neuroses Others


Delirum Dementia Alcohol … Schizophrenia Anxiety disorders Personality dis.
Wernicke’s Korsakoff Head Injury Mood disorders Adjustment dis. Sleep disorder
Etc…. Etc…. Dysthymia Sex disorder
Dissociative dis. Suicide
Neurosis and Psychosis

Psychosis:
- unsatisfactory term
- refers broadly to severe forms of mental disorders such
as:
a. organic mental diseases
b. schizophrenia
c. affective disorders

Characteristics:
- greater severity
- lack of insight
- patient’s inability to distinguish between subjective
experience and reality e.g. hallucinations, delusions.
Neurosis:
- unsatisfactory term.
- Refers to mental disorders that are generally less severe
than psychosis.

Characteristics:
- Symptoms are closer to normal experience e.g. anxiety.
Neurosis Psychosis

Severity Minor mental illness Major mental illness


Features Abnormal in quantity Abnormal in quality
e.g. anxiety e.g. hallucinates

Insight Preserved Affected

Treatment Psychological & drugs Drugs & ECT


Features Suggesting of Organic Mental Illness:

1. Disturbed consciousness.
2. Disturbed cognitive functions:
a. Attention and concentration
b. orientation: time, place & person
c. Memory : immediate, recent and remote
3. Presence of physical illness e.g. DM, HTN
4. Presence of neurological features e.g. dysarthria &
ataxia.
5. Old age onset.

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