| A | B |
|---|
| Classification/Taxonomy | The delineation of major categories or dimensions of behavioral disorders, done for either clinical or scientific purposes. |
| Diagnosis | Usually refers to assigning a category of a classification system to an individual. |
| Assessment | refers to evaluating youngsters, in part to assist the processes of classification and diagnosis and in part to direct intervention. |
| Category | A discrete grouping, for example, anxiety disorders, into which an individual is judged to fit or not fit. |
| Dimension | Implies that an attribute is continuous and can occur to various degrees |
| Interrater reliability | Refers to whether different diagnosticians use the same category to describe a person’s behavior. |
| Test-retest reliability | whether the use of a category is stable over some reasonable period of time. |
| Validity | Should give information about the etiology of a disorder, the course of development that the disorder is expected to take, response to treatment, or some additional clinical features of the problem. Also refers to whether the description of a disorder is accurate. |
| Clinical utility | Judges how complete and useful a classification system is. |
| Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) | The most widely used classification system in the United States published by the American Psychiatric Association. |
| International Classification of Diseases (ICD) | Developed by the World Health Organization is an alternative system to the DSM. |
| Diagnostic Classification- 0-3 | A system developed to classify mental disorders of very young children 0-3). |
| Clinically derived classification: | Based on the consensus of clinicians that certain characteristics occur together. This is a “top down” approach. |
| Categorical approach | A person either does or does not meet the criteria for a diagnosis. The difference between normal and pathological is one of kind rather than one of degree. |
| Multiaxial system | All disorders are classified in one of two major groups called axes. The two axes represent the diagnostic categories that are the core of the DSM system. In addition, it is recommended that each individual be evaluated in three other arenas, in order to create a fuller picture. |
| Comorbidity/Co-occurrence | Describes the situation in which youngsters meet the criteria for more than one disorder |
| Empirical approach to classification | An alternative to the clinical approach. Based on the use of statistical techniques to identify patterns of behavior that are interrelated |
| Syndrome | Term used to describe behaviors that tend to occur together, whether they are identified by empirical or clinical judgment procedures |
| Broadband syndrome | General clusters of behaviors or characteristics. The two clusters are internalizing and externalizing. |
| Internalizing syndrome/behaviors | Over controlled, or anxiety-withdrawal |
| Externalizing syndrome/behaviors | Under controlled or conductor disorder. |
| Narrowband syndrome | Eight less general clusters of characteristics presenting as internalizing (anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, somatic complaints), mixed (social problems, thought problems, attention problems) and externalizing (rule-breaking behavior, aggressive behavior). |
| Normative sample | A frame of reference for judging the problems of an individual. There are norms for non-referred youngsters and norms for other young people referred for mental health services |
| Diagnostic label | Places the youngster in a subgroup of individuals and this has implications for how the young person may be viewed and treated by others |
| Stigma | : If the impact of a diagnostic label is negative. Refers to stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and self-degradation that may be associated with membership in a socially devalued group. |
| Evidence-based assessment | Procedures for which there is empirical evidence regarding validity |
| General clinical interview | The most common method of assessment where information on all areas of functioning is obtained by interviewing the child or adolescent and various other people in the social environment. |
| Structured diagnostic interview | Have arisen in part to create interviews that are likely to be more reliable. They are more limited in purpose to deriving a diagnosis based on a particular classification scheme, for use in research, or to screen large populations for the prevalence of disorders. |
| Problem checklist | to rating scales. Used in classification systems |
| Self-report measure | General measures that are provided by the child or adolescent referred for mental health services. |
| Behavioral observation | Frequently made in the child’s natural environment that include reports of single, relatively simple, and discrete behaviors of the child, interactions of the child and peers, an complex systems of interactions among family members. |
| Observer drift | The complexity of the observational system and changes over time in the observers’ use of the system |
| Reactivity | A change in an individual’s behavior when the individual knows that he or she is being observed |
| Projective test | Were derived from the psychoanalytic notion of projection as a defense mechanism. These tests present an ambiguous stimulus, allowing the individual to project unacceptable thoughts and impulses as well as other defense mechanisms onto the stimulus. |
| Intelligence (IQ) score | An individual score that reflects how far above or below the average person of his or her age an individual is with regard to intellectual functioning. These tests emphasize language and abstract reasoning abilities. |
| Developmental index | Emphasize sensorimotor skills and simple social skills to arrive at a score that reflects how far above or below average a child performs. |
| Ability/achievement test | A test that assesses a child or adolescent’s functioning in a particular area. Often used in conjunction with intelligence tests. |
| Psychophysiological assessment | Often conducted in circumstances where a child or adolescent’s arousal level is of concern. Measures changes in physiological systems that are associated with both externalizing and internalizing problems. |
| Neurological assessment | Can be achieved by a number of procedures that directly assess the integrity of the nervous system. |
| Brain imaging | that have vastly improved the ability to assess brain structure and function. |
| Computerized tomography (CT) scan or Computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan | An exam that shows the structure of the brain. Allows tens of thousands of readings of minute variations in the density of the brain tissue, measured from an x-ray source, to be computer processed to create a photographic image of a portion of the brain. The image can reveal subtle structural abnormalities of the brain. |
| Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) | Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI |
| Positron emission tomography (PET) scan | Helps to reveal brain activity. Determines the rate of activity of different parts of the brain by assessing the use of oxygen and glucose which fuel brain activity. A color-coded picture is created that indicates different levels of activity in different parts of the brain. |
| Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): | Similar to MRI except that it produces images by tracking subtle changes in oxygen in different parts of the rain. The MRI scanner detects changes and produces pictures of the brain that indicate areas of activity. |
| Neuropsychological evaluation | Employs tests that primarily assess general intellectual abilities, learning, sensorimotor and perceptual skills, verbal skills, and memory. Inferences are made about brain functioning on the basis of the individual’s performance on these tasks. |
| Pediatric neuropsychology | Neuropsychological evaluation conducted on children. Is still a relatively new field. |
| Intervention | An umbrella term applied to both systematic prevention and treatment of psychological difficulty. |
| Prevention | refers to interventions targeting individual who are not yet experiencing a clinical disorder but who may be at risk for a particular disorder. |
| Treatment | Describes interventions for individuals already experiencing clinical levels of some problem (or symptoms that approach diagnostic levels). |
| Universal prevention strategies: | targeted to entire populations for which greater than average risk has not been identified in individuals (such as encouraging parents to read to their children and promoting exercise). |
| Selective/high-risk prevention strategies | targeted to individuals who are at higher than average risk for disorder. May be directed toward individuals or subgroups with biological risks, high stress, family dysfunction, or poverty. |
| Indicated prevention strategies | Targeted to high-risk individuals who show minimal symptoms or signs forecasting a disorder, or who have biological markers for a disorder but do not meet the criteria for the disorder. |
| Play therapy | Treatment altered to fit a young child’s level of cognitive and emotional development. |
| Parent training | A common therapeutic tool acknowledging that change in the child’s behavior may be achieved by producing changes in the way that the parents manage the young person |
| Psychotropic/psychoactive | Medications that affect mood, thought processes, or overt behavior |
| Psychopharmacological treatment | Treatment that uses psychotropic/psychoactive medications |
| Evidence-based/empirically supported intervention | Used to describe treatments for which evidence of effectiveness is available. |
| Treatment manuals | Describe precisely the treatment procedures that should be followed allowing for the valuation of treatment integrity. |
