Categories of psychological disorders

[TinySeahorse]

I am working on the MCAT content area "Psychological Disorders". My psychology textbook doesn't go into much detail about the classifications. I am using TPR MCAT Complete and the internet to learn some of this.

My TPR MCAT book states that there are 10 broad categories of mental disorders:
Anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, neurocognitive disorders, sleep disorders, somatoform disorders, and substance related disorders, with several specific psychological disorders as sub-categories.

However, the DSM-5 lists these 20 as chapters:
The complete listing of DSM-5 chapters is:
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
• Bipolar and Related Disorders
• Depressive Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
• Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
• Dissociative Disorders
• Somatic Symptom Disorders
• Feeding and Eating Disorders
• Elimination Disorders
• Sleep-Wake Disorders
• Sexual Dysfunctions
• Gender Dysphoria
• Disruptive, Impulse Control and Conduct Disorders
• Substance Use and Addictive Disorders
• Neurocognitive Disorders
• Personality Disorders
• Paraphilic Disorders
• Other Disorders

I am confused. Should I be memorizing these? If so, which one should I go by?? Or should I just have a general idea of what they are?? One of my biggest roadblocks is not knowing how much detail to memorize...

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[663697]

Just supplement the ones that aren't in the TPR book with Khan

 

[Dr. LK]

I am working on the MCAT content area "Psychological Disorders". My psychology textbook doesn't go into much detail about the classifications. I am using TPR MCAT Complete and the internet to learn some of this.

My TPR MCAT book states that there are 10 broad categories of mental disorders:
Anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, neurocognitive disorders, sleep disorders, somatoform disorders, and substance related disorders, with several specific psychological disorders as sub-categories.

However, the DSM-5 lists these 20 as chapters:
The complete listing of DSM-5 chapters is:
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
• Bipolar and Related Disorders
• Depressive Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
• Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
• Dissociative Disorders
• Somatic Symptom Disorders
• Feeding and Eating Disorders
• Elimination Disorders
• Sleep-Wake Disorders
• Sexual Dysfunctions
• Gender Dysphoria
• Disruptive, Impulse Control and Conduct Disorders
• Substance Use and Addictive Disorders
• Neurocognitive Disorders
• Personality Disorders
• Paraphilic Disorders
• Other Disorders

I am confused. Should I be memorizing these? If so, which one should I go by?? Or should I just have a general idea of what they are?? One of my biggest roadblocks is not knowing how much detail to memorize...

I can’t speak to what is tested on the MCAT. But as a practicing psychologist I strongly encourage all students likely to see patients to have a working knowledge of the DSM 5 contents. Codes for DSM 5 (or ICD 10) are needed for paperwork but knowledge of the content is more important for patient care.

 

[663697]

I can’t speak to what is tested on the MCAT. But as a practicing psychologist I strongly encourage all students likely to see patients to have a working knowledge of the DSM 5 contents. Codes for DSM 5 (or ICD 10) are needed for paperwork but knowledge of the content is more important for patient care.

Don't waste your time reading the DSM5. Just use the prep materials

 

[Medical Muse]

For the MCAT, you definitely don't need to know all the nuances of DSM-5. Most practicing physicians will reference the DSM-5 when it comes time to making a diagnosis because of the complexity of some of the conditions and the changes from DSM-4 to DSM-5. Knowing the general categories and what characteristics define those categories is all you really need to know for the MCAT.

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @TinySeahorse -

In addition to the suggestions given above, one way to help approach this material is by always asking yourself "how can these disorders be differentiated on a multiple-choice test?" You may find it useful to pay particular attention to disorders that sound similar but are not the same thing, like obsessive-compulsive disorder vs. obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, schizophrenia vs. schizoid personality disorder, and so on. It's also worth keeping an eye out for disorders in which a word is used in a way that does not correspond to the everyday, non-technical meaning. A classic example is antisocial personality disorder, which does not involve being antisocial in the sense of withdrawn or introverted.

Active studying techniques like making flowcharts, Venn diagrams, and so on can also be helpful. One of the challenges with this subject area is that it can be very easy to slip into a passive study technique of just recognizing the various terms, whereas for the MCAT you'll have to be able to tell them apart in light of the information in the question stem or passage -- so anything you can do to make your studying more active will help.

Best of luck!!