Biases in Diagnosis of Dysfunctional Behaviour 3.1.3

BIASES IN DIAGNOSIS

There are always problems with biases in diagnosis of dysfunctional behaviours, the DSM is controversial in that it has shown bias in its classification systems with cultural norms (homosexuality), and biases towards illnesses in different cultures (e.g. lots of ADHD in the USA). There are also other biases such as social biases and gender biases found in mental health diagnosis.

In Rosenhan's study on sane people in insane places, there was a situational bias. Although the pseudo-pateints were "normal", because they were in an environment where "abnormal" behaviour was expected, all their behaviour was interpreted as dysfunctional.

Abelson- investigated the effect of expectation on diagnosis. 2 groups of people watched a man in an interview, one group told he was a job applicant, one group told he was a patient…