Individual Differences in Mental Health and Wellbeing - Models and Diagnoses

Flashcards covering key definitions, models, diagnostic classification systems, and empirical critiques from Lecture 1 of Individual Differences in Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Psychiatry

The medical specialty devoted to the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders, including affective, behavioural, cognitive, and perceptual abnormalities.

Clinical Psychology

A branch of psychology aiming to use psychological theory, methods, and clinical knowledge to understand, reduce, and prevent distress, and to enhance and promote psychological well-being.

Mental Health (WHO Definition)

A state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community.

Distress

A range of experiences in a person's internal life (such as troubling thoughts or emotions) suggested in wider society to be troubling, confusing, or unusual, for which individuals might seek professional support.

Wellbeing

A holistic concept encompassing living well, positive emotions, life satisfaction, and engaging in meaningful experiences beyond merely being free from physical or mental illness.

Mental Disorder (DSM-5 Definition)

A syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour that reflects dysfunction in underlying psychological, biological, or developmental processes.

Psychological Distress

A state of emotional suffering associated with stressors and demands that are difficult to cope with in daily life.

Categorical Approach

A classification model assuming a sharp, rigid distinction between normal and abnormal functioning, assigning individuals into discrete 'yes or no' diagnostic categories.

Dimensional Approach

A classification model describing distressing psychological experiences as lying on a continuous spectrum alongside normal functioning rather than separated by sharp boundaries.

Medical Model (Biomedical Model)

A conceptual framework assuming mental health difficulties result from physical or biological problems (e.g., brain abnormalities or chemical imbalances) and should be managed with medical treatments.

Biopsychosocial Model

A model proposed by George L. Engel asserting that biological, psychological, and social determinants of mental health difficulties are complexly entwined and interact.

Social Model of Disability

A model coined by Mike Oliver in 1984 proposing that disability is created by societal barriers (physical, social, and attitudinal) rather than an individual's physical or mental impairment.

Clinical Recovery

The remission or complete disappearance of psychiatric symptoms.

Personal Recovery

A process focusing on building resilience, gaining control over problems, and leading a meaningful life regardless of the presence or absence of psychiatric symptoms.

DSM-5-TR

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition, Text Revision), published in 2022 by the American Psychiatric Association to provide diagnostic criteria for mental disorders.

ICD-11

The International Classification of Diseases (11th Revision), published in 2022 by the World Health Organization as an official global classification system for physical and mental health conditions.

Polythetic System

A classification framework in which members of a diagnostic group share a number of common characteristics, but no single characteristic is essential for group membership.

Rosenhan Experiment (1973)

A study titled 'On Being Sane in Insane Places' by David Rosenhan that demonstrated major issues with the reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnoses in asylum settings using pseudo-patients.

Inter-rater Reliability

The extent to which two or more independent evaluators or clinicians assess the same individual and assign the exact same diagnostic category, commonly evaluated using a kappa statistic.

Construct Validity

The degree to which a diagnostic category or assessment tool accurately measures the specific theoretical entity or disorder it claims to measure.

Co-morbidity (Co-occurring Conditions)

The co-occurrence of meeting the diagnostic criteria for more than one distinct mental health condition simultaneously.

Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF)

An alternative framework published by the British Psychological Society (BPS) in 2018 for understanding emotional distress outside of traditional diagnostic and biomedical models.