Diagnosing, Diagnoses, and the DSM in Clinical Social Work

Abstract

Previous research has addressed how social workers use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). These studies have treated psychiatric diagnosis as a single entity, assuming that attitude and use of the taxonomy are uniform across diagnostic categories. However, the 30 clinical social workers who took part in this qualitative study reported that salience and utility of DSM diagnoses vary according to type and severity of the disorder, playing a greater role for more severe conditions and affecting both treatment and the therapeutic relationship. They distinguished between thinking diagnostically and using the DSM, and considered symptoms a more useful analytic focus than psychiatric categories. Findings cover 7 thematic areas, with implications for social work practice, policy, and research.