Reference no: EM133285661

There are two major approaches to the study psychological disorders. The first approach is to do a lengthy, in-depth study of one person who suffers from the disorder (i.e. a case study). This was what Freud did to create his theories. With this method you get a great deal of information about the individual and his or her unique expression of a disorder. The complex characteristics of an individual can be investigated this way. The second approach is to study groups of people and get group averages to see what people who suffer from the same disorder have in common. For the most part, this is what science does (i.e. a research based approach). Most formal psychological assessment tools (e.g. the MMPI) work this way as well. That is, what you get with the test score is how the individual who took the test compares to other people who have taken the same test. This method gets you the correspondences between the unique individual and the typical symptom pattern seen in the disorder. For the Discussion response here are a few questions to discuss:

1. What are the advantageous & disadvantageous of each approach-case study and research based? For this one, you may want to consider which one you would like if you (or someone you love) needed psychological evaluation and treatment.

2. A Mental Status Exam is an example of which approach?

3. A diagnosis using the DSM-5 is an example of which approach?