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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Exam DSM: Schizoaffective Disorder

The DSM is too thick and too detailed for you to memorize everything in it.  Happily, the ASWB exam tends to focus on the disorders that you might be expected to encounter in front-line social work:  Things like Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Major Depressive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Personality Disorders...and, highlighted here via Behavenet, Schizoaffective Disorder.  Can be tricky.  Learn it!

Diagnostic criteria for 295.70 Schizoaffective Disorder:


A. An uninterrupted period of illness during which, at some time, there is either a Major Depressive Episode, a Manic Episode, or a Mixed Episode concurrent with symptoms that meet Criterion A for Schizophrenia.

B. During the same period of illness, there have been delusions or hallucinations for at least 2 weeks in the absence of prominent moodsymptoms. 
 
C. Symptoms that meet criteria for a mood episode are present for a substantial portion of the total duration of the active and residual periods of the illness. 
 
D. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition. 

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