A clinical reference can encapsulate the mental disorders and types for easy reference in a psychology situation and thus it is an advantage.
It is true that not every disorder will fall nicely into a category or that a person with a disorder will fall into the category. In fact, a patient may have two or three symptoms of a disorder, but not the others. They are still going to be classified with that mental disorder because it is the one that best fits the situation. There are also different types of mental disorders. Schizophrenia is a good example of this. With schizophrenia a person can have other disorders that are present when they are not properly medicated or it may start out as a different disorder before reaching schizophrenia. In other words, the other disorder may appear first and then a re-classification is needed.
- Mental Disorders
It is true that not every disorder will fall nicely into a category or that a person with a disorder will fall into the category. In fact, a patient may have two or three symptoms of a disorder, but not the others. They are still going to be classified with that mental disorder because it is the one that best fits the situation. There are also different types of mental disorders. Schizophrenia is a good example of this. With schizophrenia a person can have other disorders that are present when they are not properly medicated or it may start out as a different disorder before reaching schizophrenia. In other words, the other disorder may appear first and then a re-classification is needed.
- Maintaining Taxonomy
Psychology as a science will continue to grow as we learn more and more about the human mind. It means that the taxonomy or classification system also has to evolve. If you look at an older classification manual such as one from the 50s versus one from the 2000s it is clear that changes have already been made in how certain diseases are listed.
By providing a classification list, psychologists can quickly turn to their manual to look up information. It is by no means the only reference that will be used to diagnose a patient, but it can lead to the beginning stages. Basically, a quick reference guide allows a psychologist to look up a mental disorder they feel the patient may have and check on the symptoms and other terms. From there they can determine the type or narrow down the issue to one specific disorder.
