Diagnosing Clinical Significance

The DSM-5 (2013) explains that for a person to be diagnosed with a mental illness, there has to
be clinical significance that is evident in a disturbance in the individual’s cognitive, emotion
regulation, or behavior. For this Assignment, you will be discussing elements of the diagnosing
process.
Diagnosing Clinical Significance
Proceed with this week’s Discussion by searching the Library or the internet for a screening
instrument used in assessing mental health disorders. Select one of the case studies (accessible
from the Course Resources page) and address the following questions and issues about
diagnosing mental illness:
Explain what the purpose of a clinical assessment is.
Identify a commonly used instrument clinicians or psychologists use to screen for a particular
disorder and why it would be used. Note, the DSM-5 is not a screening instrument. An instrument
helps to identify if a patient is experiencing the symptoms listed in the DSM-5. An example of an
instrument is the Beck Depression Inventory that screens for symptoms of major depressive
disorder, or the PC-PTSD that is designed to screen for post-traumatic stress disorder.
During a clinical assessment, why would a clinician consider the level of severity of a patient’s
symptoms?