Group Exercise 1: Critiquing Diagnosis

Assignment for Trauma (PSY 217), Spring 2021

You may want to review diagnostic questionnaires; two are linked on Google Drive—sign in with your Bard account.

Overview

Group papers, as defined in the syllabus, involve creating a single document incorporating your group members’ work and answering the questions for that topic.

This paper should:

• Be 1.5–2 single-spaced pages
• Include all group members’ names
• Include citations for any articles you use

The paper is due before class on Friday, 2/19.

Specifics

Start by discussing the pros and cons of the DSM-5-based diagnosis: what works? What doesn’t?

Then work to do the following:

1. Use Google Scholar, PsycINFO (or any of the databases through the Bard library), or PubMed to find one or more articles critiquing or supporting the diagnostic model.

2. Using that/those source[s] and your own ideas, make an argument: should we consider changing how we diagnose PTSD? Why // why not? Feel free to focus on one set of arguments, but you must at least use one citation. (You may also wish to refer to—and cite—the DSM.)

3. After explaining your argument, explain how either:

   1. Your critiques would result in changes to the diagnosis of PTSD—what might that look like if changes were adopted?

   or

   2. Supporting the current diagnostic criteria would result in benefits to research or practice on trauma-related disorders.

I’m more than happy to help you get access to articles or answer questions.