M2-215-Peer Response

Respond to peers 1 & peer 2 while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Consider advancing the discussion in the following ways:

· Post an article, video, or visual to reinforce a peer’s idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.

· Engage in conversation with your peers around changes and limitations of the DSM.

Peer 1-CS

· How have changes in the DSM impacted clinical diagnosis for homosexuality and PTSD?

The changes in the DSM impacted clinical diagnosis for PTSD in numerous ways, PTSD is a disorder of extinction fear and anxiety is a normal response to trauma for the majority of people that fear will extinguish over time for a minority of people it won’t. The DSM diagnostic criteria for PTSD includes an outside event: the trauma. The subcategories include symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, negative alteration in cognition and mood, and marked alterations in arousal and reactivity. The DSM symptoms of PTSD are part of the normal response to trauma. Regarding homosexuality has gone from being labeled a sociopath personality disorder in DSM-1 to then being reclassified as a sexual deviation in DSM-II (Drescher, 2015).

· How has the field of mental health changed as a result of the current concepts of homosexuality and PTSD?

Over the passed 50 years, homosexuality undoubtedly has come a long way, but despite this homosexual still suffer with high levels of depression, anxiety, addictions and suicide. It has been devastating effect on people’s mental health, with that I am so honor that the mental healthcare field has started looking at some of those underlying issues. Having groups and call centers for low self-esteem, not being good enough and having to deal with loneliness and isolation have grown statewide. Homosexuality was no longer listed in the DSM; however, in its place was ego-dystonic homosexuality, meaning for those persons that believed their homosexual tendencies at odds with how they viewed themselves and wanted treatment (Drescher, 2015). Now, fields of mental health for PTSD is treated by a doctor who will carry out a physical exam/psychological evaluation to look for signs of medication or an underlying medical condition that may cause the problem. With that a discussion of the signs, symptoms and event(s) that led to them. The criteria listed in the DSM will use a diagnostic tool to evaluate the disorder.

· What is the impact on clinical practice because of these changes?

Change in the healthcare industry has always been a given it’s how you and your fellow group members react to the change that makes the difference if the change is feared that the fear if the unknown then indeed it is a major cause of stress, so if your group does nothing but engage in business as usual then you will undoubtedly be victim to the winds of this change and eventually will be shipwrecked. One the other hand, if you view the winds of change as presenting new opportunities that the opportunity to engage in practice or to expand it’s new ventures such as outpatient facilities and ancillary service vendors in a way that previously for ethical reasons or image reasons or economic reasons were viewed as a appropriate then change changes from a fear to fuel.

How does the concept of research trends in the DSM apply to any of the following programmatic themes? You may want to review the Programmatic Themes document.

Ethics in mental health is a very soft science it isn’t like chemistry or physics or even physical healthcare because there are no biological markers to any mental disorder yet even though that’s been researched for decades there is no reliable diagnostic marker for any kind of mental disorder outlined in the DSM, so what diagnosis comes down to is an intersubjective process between one human being who we call a clinician and another human being who we call a client one who is suffering and one whose job it is as a health care professional to understand them and help them recover from their primary concerns. 

References:

Drescher, J. (2015, December 1). Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality.PubMed Central

Peer 2-KW

   The changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders impacted the clinical diagnoses for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in 1980 by suggesting that the PTSD concept was the stipulation that the etiological agent was outside the individual (Freidman, n.d.). Meaning that PTSD stems from traumatic events that had emotional and neurological impacts to an individual. In 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of International Classification of Diseases (Presher). After homosexuality was declassified as a disease, it was more focused on the moral aspect of it.        The field of mental health has changed as the result of current concepts of homosexuality and PTSD due to the stigma that surrounds both, but mainly homosexuality. Due to homosexuality being more rationalized in today’s society, it is no longer considered a mental illness. It came down to one thing, if being gay or homosexual is normalized, then what can society do to bring less judgement and accept them as equal? With PTSD still being considered a mental illness, the field of mental health has been able to grow and evolve. I believe that since PTSD has been found to stem from traumatic events instead of neurologically, it has helped experts learn how to treat it more effectively.      The impact on clinical practice of homosexuality due to the changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has drastically changed. Since homosexuality is no longer classified as a mental disorder, there are no reasons for clinical practices on this issue to continue. Therefor homosexuality is no longer an issue for the DSM. PTSD has also impacted the clinical practice of the way we evaluate PTSD. since PTSD has been found to stem from the traumatic events, it has narrowed down the criteria utilized in clinical practices. I believe PTSD has improved the research methods and needs for clinical practices.      In my opinion the concepts of research trends in the DSM apply to the programmatic themes ethics and emotional intelligence. Ethics apply to the concepts of research trends because of homosexuality. After it was deemed as no longer a mental illness, it brought up feelings of if being gay was right or wrong depending on religious beliefs, political views, or moral factors. Ethics play a huge role in what we classify as right or wrong, or due to our personal beliefs. Emotional intelligence can be related to PTSD, because they both deal with the neurological factors of the brain. PTSD mostly affects your emotions, and the traumatic event you encountered is what sticks in your brain, both involving how you process things mentally. 

Drescher, J. (2015a). Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality. Behavioral Sciences, 5(4), 565–575. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.3390/bs5040565 Drescher, J. (2015b). Queer diagnoses revisited: The past and future of homosexuality and gender diagnoses in DSM and ICD [Abstract]. International Review of Psychiatry, 27(5), 386–395. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.3109/09540261.2015.1053847 Friedman, M. J. (n.d.). PTSD history and overview. PTSD: National Center for PTSD. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/history_ptsd.asp#:~:text=In%201980%2 C%20the%20American%20Psychiatric,in%20psychiatric%20theory%20and%20practice Humphreys, P. (2011, April). Psychopathologies: Paul Humphreys explores definitions and diagnoses of ‘abnormality,’ from historical perspectives to the present day. Psychology Review, 16(4), 2+.