Diagnoses

Arnoldo Cantú

There’s a big, hairy problem shadowing our field: what, exactly, is a mental disorder? Is using diagnostic language helping or hurting our clients? The way... Read more

The Problem With ODD

How Neuroscience Shifts the Conversation

By obscuring the truth about kids’ adaptive responses to stress, the ODD diagnosis interferes with genuine solutions and effective treatment. Read more

The Future of Diagnosis

Traveling Beyond the Limits of the DSM

Take a magical journey beyond the DSM’s pathologizing legacy to a place where therapists can name and categorize suffering, while still taking into account... Read more

"I Know What's Wrong With Me"

Social Media and the Lure of Self-Diagnosis

Although people might benefit from the sense of certainty that accompanies a self-diagnosis, it can also mislead them into embracing a fixed—or even a... Read more

Editor's Note: September/October 2023

Our Love-Hate Relationship with Diagnoses

When we hear the word diagnosis, it’s hard not to think of the DSM. The dreaded DSM. But hating this particular book is nothing new... Read more

Seeking the Autism Diagnosis

The Current Quest for Identity and Community
Rachael Goren

Increasing numbers of young people are wanting the validation of an autism diagnosis, even when assessments reveal they don’t meet the criteria. Read more

A Never-Ending Adjustment Disorder

How Therapists Navigate the Paradox of Diagnosis

A lot can go awry when you identify a person with a disorder—but avoiding diagnosis altogether isn’t always the right solution either. How are therapists... Read more

Allen Frances, formerly of Duke University, wrote the clinical diagnosis for narcissistic personality disorder that first appeared in the third edition of the... Read more

VIDEO: Prolonged Grief Disorder

Does This New Diagnosis Help or Hurt?

What does the diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder mean to clinicians and grieving individuals? Read more

Case Study November 11, 2021

“You Have Borderline Personality Disorder”

Sharing a Difficult Diagnosis with a Client

Therapists need to consider not only what diagnosis to give, but also the pain or hardship that can result from sharing it with a client. Read more

Steven explains that clients are rarely cured by medication or therapy alone. Read more

VIDEO: How Meeting Condition Criteria Doesn't Equal Mental Disorder

Jack Klott on One of the Diagnostic Changes in DSM-5

While the publication of DSM-5 came with many surprises, few were as shocking—or as controversial—as the number of changes made to diagnosis specifiers... Read more

Discover How DSM-5 Will Affect Your Practice

Martha Teater on One of the Major Changes in DSM-5

Martha Teater discusses a huge change in the DSM-5 that many therapists are still adjusting to—diagnosis-specific severity scales. Read more

Developmental Trauma Disorder: Distinguishing, Diagnosing, and the DSM

How One Tenacious Task Force Worked to Separate Developmental Trauma Disorder from PTSD in DSM-5

In 2005, a complex trauma task force began working on constructing a new diagnosis called Developmental Trauma Disorder, which, they hoped, would capture the... Read more

Examining the Most Controversial Change in DSM-5

Gary Greenberg On The Bereavement Exclusion

When examining the various changes made in DSM-5, Gary Greenberg finds the most controversial one to be the removal of the bereavement exclusion from the major... Read more

What's The Value Of A Diagnostic Category In The DSM?

Gary Greenberg on the Role of Economic Factors in the Shaping of the DSM

Gary Greenberg deconstructs the DSM and how it affects the field and your practice. Read more

The Therapy Beat July 8, 2013

Unless DSM more firmly joins the march toward biological psychiatry, it’s going to be left behind by NIMH. Read more

The Therapy Beat November 1, 2012

Do childhood trauma and a chaotic family environment cause adult borderline personality disorder (BPD)? Common clinical wisdom says yes, but new results are... Read more

The Long Shadow of Trauma

Childhood Abuse May Be Our Number One Public Health Issue

As the battles and controversies over the forthcoming DSM-V heat up, a determined group of trauma experts and researchers are mounting a passionate challenge... Read more

The Missing Piece

Helping Asperger's Clients Find Connection

To go through life with Asperger's as an adult is like walking onto a stage and being the only actor who doesn't know the lines or plot. But as the condition... Read more

Emerging from the Shadows

Looking Beyond the Borderline Diagnosis

In the minds of many therapists, the borderline diagnosis has come to be a code word for trouble. To get past our sense of helplessness with these clients, we... Read more