This paper highlights the unique contributions that social workers can bring to the field by using diagnosis in clinical social work. Though it has been debatable whether it is significant in the practice being that social workers are not doctors, but rather clinicians. Some people believe that social workers should practice diagnosis in clinical social work while others feel that it’s unjustified. This paper will explore the pros and cons to diagnosis in clinical social work practice through the history of social work, DSM, labeling, misdiagnosis. While applying strength perspective and empowerment in Clinical Social Work Practice. As a result, Social workers are competent to diagnosis patients, due to their level of education that has taught the ways of assessing, diagnosing and providing counseling to clients through the code of ethics. Background Clinical social workers represent the largest group of behavioral health practitioners in the nation. They are often the first to diagnose and treat people with mental disorders and various emotional and behavioral disturbances (NASW, 2005). Clinical social workers are essential to a variety of client centered settings, including community mental health centers, hospitals, substance use treatment and recovery programs, schools, primary health care centers, child welfare agencies, aging …show more content…
The DSM has been found to be somewhat bias. There are some pros and cons to the DSM as well. Some have found that it leads to uniform and improved diagnosis, improves informed professional communication through uniformity, and provides the basis for a comprehensive educational tool. While others believe it can lead to diagnostic labels, by providing limited information on the relationship between environmental considerations and aspects of the mental health condition. Lastly, it does not describe intervention strategies (Wakefield,
The adult mental health social work may be considered complex and challenging due to the issues it faces. The practice entails the involvement of a certain number of professionals which have the authority to make an immense impact on the service users’ lives. The association with the social services may initiate within the service users a certain amount of discomfort and vulnerability. This may be because it could carry with it a certain degree of unwarranted labelling and prejudice. Apart from the impact that the involvement of the social services have on the service users, it is worth noting that there are further challenges which may be encountered, and they do not only arise from the complexity of the service users’ situation alone, they may also stem from the social worker’s capacity and experience to practice, laws, policies, funding and other factors that cannot always be controlled. The social workers have many tools to help and support the service users, however, been entrusted with authority as well as an element of power to make decisions through their assessments, they are also expected to practice responsibly because of the immense impact their evaluations have on people’s lives. These together with the legal accountability and the professionally required, ethical and moral congruence may be a fertile ground for conflict of interests. For example, a discrepancy between the views of the social worker and the service user regarding needs of services.
...s that the DSM can also falsely determine ones specific mental health, showing the struggle between diagnosing someone with genuine disorders and excessively diagnosing individuals.
Coleman, M. (2003). Behind managed care’s courtship of clinical social workers. Behavioral Heath Management, 23, 36-37.
Caring for an individual who is facing a life threatening illness is often completed by a multidimensional team, including doctors, nurses, therapists, and caregivers, as well as family members. Social workers are an integral part of this team, since they are usually the healthcare workers that are involved in the evaluation and assessment of patients and their family members’ needs and concerns at the end ...
Dorfman, R. (1996). Clinical social work: Definiton [sic], practice, and vision. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers.
Social workers specialize in treating all types of clients. Regardless of their specialty, all social workers have common tasks. When they get new clients, social workers, both in the military and...
First off, clinical social workers work one-on-one with individuals by utilizing psychosocial casework to improve their client’s lives. Social workers at the micro level typically provide case management by coordinating and monitoring services, developing a treatment plan, advocating for new services, providing psychoeducation, and by helping clients learn more about their specific disorder (Marx). They also provide psychotherapy through three major therapeutic approaches- psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and humanistic (Marx). When it comes to the mezzo level social worker work with groups and families. They may initiate therapy groups, support groups, psychoeducational groups, and socialization groups all in order to uplift their clients about their mental disorder (Marx). On top of that, social workers also offer family therapy with the goal of helping families learn and function effectively by meeting the needs of a family member with a mental illness (Marx). Finally, social workers also work on a macro level through advocacy and policy changes, and in an administrative setting. Through advocacy, social workers may lobby for policy changes on a local, state, or national level in order to promote positive
"Clinical social workers provide much of the skills training support and resistance. And families with special needs, the social worker as an investment case manager can do wonders to keep the family," he said.
The DSM is the manual used to classify mental disorders, it plays a major role in the health care system in the United States. Inclusion of conditions definitely affects the legitimization of them, since it is the standard book used by health professionals to label disorders. The DSM affects the sick role due to labeling and realizing a person needs treatment based on their condition, without it people wouldn 't be able to adopt the sick role, in terms of mental disorders. Cultural diversity is a factor that affects labeling and the treatment of mental disorders because different cultures can perceive and treat mental disorders through an ethnocentric view compared to using the DSM. Overall the DSM plays a big role in the health care system, from diagnosing to treating , labeling and access to health care.
Social work as a profession strives to help the welfare of those within the community whether its persons or families through advocacy. Often times clients are those who may be vulnerable and disadvantaged. Social workers aim to help people fulfill basic needs in their everyday lives and assist them by providing beneficial resources and intervention counseling. They do more than just help them in their current situation, it’s about helping them to survive and set attainable goals to live a fuller and better life for themselves, and most time for their families.
It can be argued that the DSM in clinical social work can undermine the mission of social work as it pathologies everyday behaviors as a disorder, thereby causing harm to the individual who is being assessed. The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics states that the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well–being and help meet the basic human needs of people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty (NASW). The DSM can be viewed as undermining this code and can influence us in how we perceive our troubles and how we define problems. Therefore, it could compromise human well-being by labeling problems in society, communities
Social workers often take on the task of assessing people and situations to implement interventions that can assist in enhancing an individual’s wellbeing and this can potentially change the outcome of their situation. Conducting an assessment consist of engaging through the active process of observation and collecting data (the client’s input) (McInnis-Dettrich, 2014). Therefore, a practitioner does not dismiss the importance of observing the client in a natural environment. The writer has learned that assessment begins when you speak with a client and when you first lay eyes on them for example, observing their behavior in the waiting room or when they first enter your office. Often social workers gain pertinent information by making correlations
I agree with the therapist that cares little for the DSM lV. The DSM lV keeps individuals stuck in their own world. It gives those excuses and reasoning on why they act the way they act in society. Giving a person a diagnose from the DSM lV cause confusion and isolation between the client and the therapist. Looking though a book to diagnose a problem instead of understanding the situation can cause friction in the
Social work is a multifaceted, ever adapting profession, which has had many purposes and identities through the years. It is imperative for the vocation to constantly evolve alongside the social climate and the new ways in which we identify and treat those who are in need of support. Social workers can be required to take on the role of counsellor, advocate, case-worker, partner, assessor of risk and need, and at times (as the government seeks to push social work further and further towards the health and education sectors) a servant of the state. The profession is dramatically subject to affection by societal change, thus demanding social workers have a duty to be up to date with the latest developments in understanding how and why people get to the point of requiring social work intervention, and how best to prevent and cater for it.
should be empowering, by so it provides resources, a relationship and sets the tone which people can enhance their own lives. It’s important for clinical social workers to emphasize on the clients strengths, positive reframing, and the use of language of solutions to guide clients in the direction to point out strengths and resources that are necessary for solving their problems and reaching their goals (Greene, Lee, & Hoffpauir, 2005).