Читать книгу Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology - Robert Weis - Страница 38

DSM-5 uses a hybrid of three different approaches to classification: (1) categorical, (2) prototypical, and (3) dimensional. Categorical classification involves dividing mental disorders into mutually exclusive groups, or categories, based on sets of essential criteria. The categorical approach is the oldest approach to classification and is used predominantly in biology and medicine. For example, in the field of biology, an animal is classified as a mammal if it (a) has vertebrae, (b) has hair, and (c) feeds its young with mother’s milk. An animal that does not possess these essential features is not a mammal. In the field of medicine, a person is diagnosed with diabetes if she has significant problems regulating her blood glucose. A person without significant blood sugar problems is not diagnosed with diabetes. Similarly, each mental disorder is defined by the presence of essential diagnostic criteria listed in DSM-5. A person without those criteria would not be diagnosed with a given disorder (Widiger & Mullins-Sweatt, 2018).

You can see the categorical approach to classification in the diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode. The episode has three essential features (labeled A, B, and C). All three are required for a diagnosis of major depression.