Psychiatric Diagnosis

Outline for Psychiatric Diagnosis

Wayne Natoya

Psychopathology PSY645:

Hausch-Gwaltney Stefanie Dr. Instructor:

Campus Global Arizona of University

Nov 15, 2021

Introduction

This outline is aimed at examining the psychiatric diagnosis of the case study of Julia, who

is a 17-year-old female having the eating disorder Anorexia nervosa. In Julia’s case she does not

believe that she has a problem to seek help while everyone around her thought otherwise due to

her sickly emaciated image. Julia’s distorted image of herself as being fat and ugly is a common

perception amongst anorexia nervosa patients. Her need for control and perfection to look and be

best for her sport caused her to over exercise and eat very little to replenish calories. By doing

this, she feels she is being ambitious with her sport which many anorexia nervosa patients often

have a justification for why they chose to focus on eating very little to remain thin. So, why is

the DSM-5 diagnostic manual the best option for clinicians and Psychologist to utilize to

diagnose Julia’s anorexia nervosa disorder? Why is the cognitive approach the most appropriate

theoretical orientation for Julia’s diagnosis?

Justification of Chosen Diagnostic Manual

As of 2021 the DSM-5 according to this research article Age dependency of body mass index

distribution in childhood and adolescent inpatients with anorexia nervosa with a focus on DSM-

5 and ICD-11 weight criteria and severity specifiers have updated healthy weight and BMI

according to age and height standards criteria for clinicians to use to evaluate patients with

anorexia nervosa (Engelhardt et al, 2021).

The article Research review: Child psychiatric diagnosis and classification: Concepts, findings,

challenges, and potential discusses that clinicians and psychiatrists utilize the diagnostic and

statistical manual to diagnose cases of psychiatric diseases. The use of these manuals allows

health professionals to determine the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for various

diseases (Rutter, 2011).

Cherry (2021) in the article How mental health professionals use the DSM today discusses

that the diagnosis guidelines provide crucial information and a direction that helps in the

diagnosis of mental illnesses to the health care providers. For this case, DSM-5 was chosen as

the handbook and guidelines that can provide information regarding this case study. This booklet

offers information for both adults and children that cover different types of Mental Health

illnesses. When it comes to psychiatric diagnosis, it is utilized for diagnosis, recommendations,

therapies, and insurance coverage (Cherry, 2021).

The article Prevalence, incidence, and natural course of anorexia and bulimia nervosa

among adolescents and young adults discusses that there are several reasons why it is necessity

to use the DSM-5 as a tool for diagnosis of mental disorder because it promotes the use of the

same criteria in diagnosing the ailment of patients to avoid any ambiguities (Nagl et al. 2016).

This manual helps in undertaking a differential diagnosis of ailments to determine the exact

condition that the patient has. Psychiatrists and clinical officers usually feel at ease in identifying

various health disorders while utilizing the diagnostic manuals and guidelines. These guidelines and when

are prepared with the evidence obtained from the research and are backed up with authenticated research

methodologies. The article Symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have differential

relationships to borderline personality disorder symptoms that the chances of accuracy and correctness in

identifying the symptoms of any mental health illness increases with the use of DSM-5 by the psychiatrist

in identifying the disorders (Miller, Racine & Klonsky, 2021).

Symptoms within the context of an appropriate theoretical orientation for the diagnosis

Based on the cognitive theoretical concept, the actions of individuals are dependent on their

feelings and their thought patterns (Wonderlich et al 2020). Julia feels she is too fat and does not

feel that her choices to eat very little is detrimental for health. She feels her over exercising and

starvation methods are good choices for her sports performance to remain as thin as possible.

The research study article Anorexia Nervosa and a Lost Emotional Self: A Psychological

Formulation of the Development, Maintenance, and Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa conducted a

research of 547 adolescent and 724 adult patients with anorexia nervosa and the analysis showed

that in both adults and adolescents, there were thought patterns about overvaluation and desiring

weight loss based on the cognitive theory (Oldershaw, A., Startup, H., & Lavender, T. 2019).

The cognitive theory is concerned with the thinking process of an individual and the impact of

that thinking process on the behavior of human beings. In this case, cognitive theory can be

regarded as a theoretical direction for Julia’s disorder anorexia nervosa. The cognitive theory is

employed as an example to highlight the problematic idea of the patient and intense care of

maintaining and managing the weight and body shape. The patient Julia is highly concerned with

her physical appearance because of which she often misses food and only cares about body

shape. Any solution to this disease was because of a lack of self-esteem and confidence, which

also came from some bullying in her childhood where her body shape was subjected to criticism.

It does not help that she feels that her family does not really support her emotionally which can

create inner voids of low self-worth and low self-esteem. From the cognitive theoretical

standpoint, the patient Julia can be classified and declared to be suffering from the eating

disorder anorexia nervosa.

Conclusion

The DSM-5 diagnosis manual was utilized for the psychiatric diagnosis of anorexia nervosa

for the case study of Julia. This outline justifies use of the DSM-5 for the patient’s diagnosis with

supporting peer reviewed scholarly sources. Additionally, the evaluation of symptoms within the

cognitive theoretical orientation for the diagnosis were discussed and justified with peer

reviewed scholarly sources.

Reference

Cherry, K. (2021). How mental health professionals use the DSM today. Verywell

Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-diagnostic-and-statistical-manual-dsm-

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Engelhardt, C., Föcker, M., Bühren, K., Dahmen, B., Becker, K., Weber, L., Correll, C. U., Egberts, K.

M., Ehrlich, S., Roessner, V., Fleischhaker, C., von Gontard, A., Hahn, F., Jenetzky, E., Kaess,

M., Legenbauer, T., Renner, T. J., Schulze, U. M. E., Sinzig, J., & Wessing, I. (2021). Age

dependency of body mass index distribution in childhood and adolescent inpatients with anorexia

nervosa with a focus on DSM-5 and ICD-11 weight criteria and severity specifiers. European

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(7), 1081–1094. https://doi-org.proxy-

library.ashford.edu/10.1007/s00787-020-01595-4

Gorenstein, E., & Comer, J. (2015). Case studies in abnormal psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY:

Worth Publishers. ISBN: 9780716772736.https://redshelf.com.Case 18: You Decide: The Case of

Julia

Miller, A. E., Racine, S. E., & Klonsky, E. D. (2021). Symptoms of anorexia nervosa and

bulimia nervosa have differential relationships to borderline personality disorder

symptoms. Eating Disorders, 29(2), 161-174. Nagl, M., Jacobi, C., Paul, M., Beesdo-Baum, K., Höfler, M., Lieb, R., & Wittchen, H. U.

(2016). Prevalence, incidence, and natural course of anorexia and bulimia nervosa among

adolescents and young adults. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 25(8), 903-

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Oldershaw, A., Startup, H., & Lavender, T. (2019). Anorexia Nervosa and a Lost Emotional

Self: A Psychological Formulation of the Development, Maintenance, and Treatment of

Anorexia Nervosa. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 219.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00219

Rutter, M. (2011). Research review: Child psychiatric diagnosis and classification: Concepts,

findings, challenges and potential. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(6),

647-660.

Wonderlich, S. A., Bulik, C. M., Schmidt, U., Steiger, H., & Hoek, H. W. (2020). Severe and

enduring anorexia nervosa: Update and observations about the current clinical reality.

International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(8), 1303-1312.