Tag: dsm-5

Take the DSM-5 disorder quiz!

Published on by Sanjay Srivastava12 Comments

Below are the names of some psychological disorders. For each one, choose one of the following:

A. This is under formal consideration to be included as a new disorder in the DSM-5.

B. Somebody out there has suggested that this should be a disorder, but it is not part of the current proposal.

C. I made it up.

Answers will be posted in the comments section.

1. Factitious dietary disorder – producing, feigning, or exaggerating dietary restrictions to gain attention or manipulate others

2. Skin picking disorder – recurrent skin picking resulting in skin lesions

3. Olfactory reference syndrome – preoccupation with the belief that one emits a foul or offensive body odor, which is not perceived by others

4. Solastalgia – psychological or existential stress caused by environmental changes like global warming

5. Hypereudaimonia – recurrent happiness and success that interferes with interpersonal functioning

6. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder – disabling irritability before and during menstruation

7. Internet addiction disorder – compulsive overuse of computers that interferes with daily life

8. Sudden wealth syndrome – anxiety or panic following the sudden acquisition of large amounts of wealth

9. Kleine Levin syndrome – recurrent episodes of sleeping 11+ hours a day accompanied by feelings of unreality or confusion

10. Quotation syndrome – following brain injury, speech becomes limited to the recitation of quotes from movies, books, TV, etc.

11. Infracaninophilia – compulsively supporting individuals or teams perceived as likely to lose competitions

12. Acquired situational narcissism – narcissism that results from being a celebrity

The Five-Factor Model in the DSM-5

Published on by Sanjay Srivastava2 Comments

Via Neuroskeptic, I just found out that the Big Five have been proposed to appear (sorta) in the DSM-5.

The current Axis II disorders will be replaced by a mixture of continuously-rated personality disorder types (carrying forward psychopathy, avoidant, borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and schizotypal) and 6 personality traits. According to the rationale, four of the traits are pathological versions of 4 of the Big Five (Openness/Intellect apparently doesn’t have a pathological extreme).

I need to read more about it, but it’s not clear to me how redundant the types and traits will be, and whether that’s by design. For example, the typology includes a schizitypal type, and the trait space includes a schizotypy dimension (the latter based on David Watson’s work suggesting that trait terms referring to oddness/eccentricity should not have been excluded from the lexical sampling that produced the Big Five). Both are continuously rated — will they provide complementary information, or will they just say the same thing?

One good thing, though, is the shift toward using continuous ratings rather than yes/no categories. This will potentially create practical problem for the healthcare system (if something is continuous, at what point do you decide that insurance will reimburse treatment?), but scientifically it is better in line with what we know about the underlying nature of personality and personality disorders.