Question

Which of the following is not a specific criterion that a clinician examines before assigning a mental health diagnosis?

A.) Number of Episodes
B.) severity of symptoms
C.) Duration of symptoms
D.) Stigma of diagnosis

Answer 1

The incorrect criterion for assigning a mental health diagnosis is the Stigma of Diagnosis. Clinicians evaluate Number of Episodes, Severity of Symptoms, and Duration of Symptoms, not stigma. Symptoms are subjective but can be quantified using tools like the Wong-Baker scale or skin conductance measurements.

Step-by-step explanation:

The specific criterion that a clinician examines before assigning a mental health diagnosis includes Number of Episodes, Severity of Symptoms, and Duration of Symptoms. However, Stigma of Diagnosis is not a clinical criterion used for diagnosing mental health disorders. Clinicians rely on objective and measurable factors like symptom severity, duration, and frequency, rather than the societal or individual stigma that might be associated with a diagnosis.

Symptoms are subjective experiences of the patient and include things like pain, nausea, and loss of appetite. Although these are hard to measure precisely, clinicians can use tools like the Wong-Baker Faces pain-rating scale to help quantify pain by asking patients to rate it on a scale of 0-10. Another method for quantifying symptoms is by measuring skin conductance fluctuations, which reflect sweating due to the stressor of pain.