Chunk #77 — Psychopathology Description and Diagnosis — On the Comprehensiveness, Utility, and Parsimony of Using Homogeneous Constructs to Describe Psychopathology — The utility of disaggregation in psychopathology description
There are, of course, practical difficulties associated with a shift from the syndromal model to one based on homogeneous dimensions of functioning. First (2005) noted that such dramatic change would require retraining, cause administrative problems, complicate record keeping, disrupt some forms of research, and disrupt clinicians' ability both to apply past research to current clinical care and to communicate effectively with other mental health practitioners. First also recognized that none of these issues have to do with the validity of the science involved. As he noted, if the change provided improved validity and clinical applicability, it might be worth the disruption. At present, there is ample reason to believe that diagnosis along homogeneous dimensions would improve the validity and clinical applicability of psychiatric diagnosis.
