Title: Medical Model - Treating Mental Disorders | Simply Psychology
Headings: The Medical Model
The Medical Model
Assumptions
Diagnostic Criteria
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
Making a psychiatric diagnosis
Schizophrenia
Depression
OCD
Drug Treatment
Effectiveness
Appropriateness
Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
Psychosurgery
Evaluation of The Medical Model
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
APA Style References
How to reference this article:

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Making a psychiatric diagnosis
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This opens in a new window. However, studies have shown that diagnosis is not a reliable tool. Rosenhan (1973) conducted an experiment where the aim was to see whether psychiatrists could reliably distinguish between people who were mentally ill and those who were not. The study consists of two conditions from which in one the hospital were informed that patients will be coming that are not actually mentally ill when in fact no patients were sent at all. In this condition the psychiatrists only diagnosed 41 out of 193 patients as being mentally ill when in reality all patients were mentally ill. In the other conditions, 8 people were told to report at the hospital that they hear noises in their head. As soon as they were administrated, they behaved normally. The doctors in this condition still classified these patients as insane, with a case of dormant schizophrenia. Rosenhan concluded that no psychiatrist can easily diagnose the sane from insane. Though Rosenhan delivered a very accurate report on diagnoses of patients, Rosenhan was criticised for deceiving the hospital for claiming that sane patients were being sent over, though none were actually sent.