Changes are being proposed in the United States for diagnosing mental illness and how to manage treatment. Overall, the proposed changes would promote a more flexible and individualized style of mental health diagnosis rather than adhering to strict classification systems for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, etc. Supporters of this revised format believe that by utilizing dimensional classifications for mental illness, clinicians can make more accurate diagnoses based on an individual’s severity and duration of their symptoms as well as how it affects their daily activities – rather than solely using diagnostic criteria based upon a list of symptoms.
The current model for diagnosing mental illness has been criticized for years due to the fact that many patients often meet criteria for multiple diagnoses at once or often feel as though they fall between diagnoses; therefore delaying treatment and invalidating individuals who do not meet classification standards set by the existing framework. A shift towards a dimensional approach to mental health diagnosis would allow clinicians to recognize that every person experiences their emotions and behaviours on a continuum; thus providing them with the opportunity to deliver patient-centred care.
Changes in the way mental health is diagnosed can seem like an abstract idea for many everyday Americans, but their impact on people’s lives will be huge. Access to services, insurance approvals, accommodation at school, work, and in one’s self would all rely on mental health diagnoses.
Advocates of mental health reform believe that improving the system to be more compassionate and nuanced will result in fewer people feeling that they “don’t belong” or are given a diagnostic label rather than being listened to. Experts believe that the impact of changing mental health diagnoses must be communicated clearly, and developed collaboratively with the input of those who have lived experience, so that the system is less of a gatekeeping tool, and instead becomes a common language used to describe healing.
Source: USA Today / KFF Health News – “Major change may come in mental health diagnoses
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