Diagnosis and Treatment Project

The DSM will become your friend!

At the conclusion of this unit, you should be able to recognize several of the major categories of psychological disorders and their related symptoms. You'll also be able to compare and evaluate different treatment approaches for these disorders.

To demonstrate your mastery of these skills, you will be completing a Diagnosis and Treatment Project that involves analyzing two patient cases and providing diagnosis (based on DSM-IV-TR guidelines) and treatment recommendations for them. You'll also explore how each patient's diagnosis would appear under DSM-5 criteria.

You will be provided with handouts on your specific patient cases in class. They are taken from DSM-IV-TR Casebooks that are used to provide students with practice applying DSM-IV-TR criteria.

Your typed write-ups are due Friday, April 11. Because it is very normal for folks to have questions about this project, I'll be available after school every day this week to help, as well as during lunches and in the AM on Thursday. Please see me if you get stuck.

Resources:

Directions: Diagnosis and Treatment Project

Example: Patient Case and accompanying Diagnosis & Treatment Plan

DSM-IV-TR Codes and Links to Diagnostic Criteria

Handout: Highlights of Changes from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-5

Scoring Rubric: Diagnosis and Treatment Project