Classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia

Discuss issues involved with classification and diagnosis of schizophrenia (16 marks):

There are problems with the reliability of the diagnosis. Schizophrenia is diagnosed when one or more of the first rank symptoms are present but it is not explained why this is limited to one. People could be falsely diagnosed as schizophrenic for displaying a single symptom.

Some of the symptoms of schizophrenia are similar to those of other disorders. This means that diagnosis is often dependent upon the subjective interpretation of the doctor. However, doctors often experience culture or gender bias. The content and scoring of many psychological assessments reflect white European culture. This leads to other ethnicities being misdiagnosed. Psychological problems are often overestimated in members of other cultures, women and the working class. For example, women are less likely to be diagnosed with a mood disorder because it is thought typical for a woman to experience mood changes. Men are more likely to be diagnosed because it goes against accepted norms for a man to…