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Diagnosis, Overview

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Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology

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Introduction

In psychology, diagnosis refers to the process of determining and identifying psychological problems and/or mental disorders. Diagnosis aims at naming aspects of an individual’s functioning or designating the functioning of a group, such as a family or a corporation. Depending on the theoretical framework (psychotherapeutic school of thought, specialist areas in psychology), different interpretations have been given to the term. A major discussion in the field is whether diagnosis should classify psychological problems in terms of standard categories and labels or should aim at describing problems in tailor-made clinical case formulations.

Definition

Diagnosis is the process of determining, identifying, and naming psychological problems and/or mental disorders in an individual or in a group.

Keywords

Mental disorder; psychical suffering; classification; DSM; medical model; psychotherapy psychoanalysis; David Cooper; Michel Foucault; Sigmund Freud; Wilhelm Griesinger; Emil...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Consulting, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 25, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Stijn Vanheule

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  1. Stijn Vanheule
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Correspondence to Stijn Vanheule .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Thomas Teo

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Vanheule, S. (2014). Diagnosis, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_582

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_582

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5583-7

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