PROFESSOR SMITH

Name

Institutional affiliation

Date
 Evidently, Professor Smith from the case is going through personality disorders;

paranoid, schizotypal, schizoid, antisocial, histrionic, borderline, narcissistic, dependent

avoidant, and OCP disorder. The DSM has vastly covered the core aspects of the patient and his

symptoms as indicated in the aforementioned list of personality traits and disorders. These

personal disorders are what entail the DSM and can be used to identify patients that are ailing

from any of the personal disorders. In this case scenario, Professor Smith is going through

explosive anger, emotional swings unclear self-image, chronic emptiness, self-harm and

impulsive disorders which can be tracked down to borderline (Diagnostic and statistical manual

of mental disorders, 2013).

Therefore, the DSM has elaborated on Professor Smith’s ailment and came up with the

diagnosis. One of the main advantages of the diagnosis is that it helps a psychiatrist to come up

with the correct disorder a patient is ailing from and come up with amicable solution in tackling

the illness. Through the diagnosis, the patient can also understand what he or she is going

through and follow the outlined measures to curb recurrence or the effects of the disorders. On

the contrary, the diagnosis can be a point of worry to the people surrounding the patient. It can be

used as a way of isolating oneself from the public and other people which is not a commendable

social behavior (Kearney& Trull, 2018).With such diagnosis, there is a possibility of negative

stigma on the patient from other people. This stems from the fact that other people already know

the weakness of the patient and can use it to attack the patient hence worsening the situation

further. Negative stigma is however expected in such kind of situation as mental illness is a

totally new condition that is yet to be thoroughly explored (Banner, 2013). The diagnosis is

imperative as it helps psychiatrists to come up with remedies.

 References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.

Washington DC. American Psychiatry Publishing

Banner, N. (2013). Mental disorders are not brain disorders. Journal Of Evaluation In Clinical

Practice, 19(3), 509-513. doi: 10.1111/jep.12048

Kearney, C. & Trull, T. (2018). Abnormal psychology and life: A dimensional approach. (3rd

ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth