Psych Vivas · Foundations — nosology
Psychiatric classification — structured clinical viva
Fellowship viva covering nosology purposes, DSM-ICD dual systems, field-trial reliability, HiTOP/RDoC, ICD-11 reforms, and classification-to-care reasoning.
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Study tools
Target exams
FRANZCPMRCPsychABPNMD-DNB
Prompt
Examiner: 'Psychiatric diagnoses are unreliable and invalid — we should abandon manuals for RDoC and HiTOP only.' Using a 32-year-old man with first-episode psychosis and daily cannabis as a running example, defend a sophisticated position on ICD-11 vs DSM-5-TR, reliability vs validity vs utility, categorical vs dimensional models, ICD-11 psychosis/personality reforms, and how classification links to formulation and risk without reification.
Interpretation
Reveal interpretationShowHide
This viva tests whether you can reject both naive reification ("manuals are nature") and nihilism ("abandon diagnosis"). Markers want the R-V-U split, dual-system fluency, honest reliability data, correct placement of HiTOP/RDoC as research frameworks, ICD-11 psychosis updates, and formulation/risk after the label.[1][4][8]
References8ShowHide
- [1]Kendell R, Jablensky A Distinguishing between the validity and utility of psychiatric diagnoses Am J Psychiatry, 2003.PMID 12505793
- [2]Regier DA, Narrow WE, Clarke DE, et al. DSM-5 field trials in the United States and Canada, Part II: test-retest reliability of selected categorical diagnoses Am J Psychiatry, 2013.PMID 23111466
- [3]Reed GM, First MB, Kogan CS, et al. Innovations and changes in the ICD-11 classification of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders World Psychiatry, 2019.PMID 30600616
- [4]Clark LA, Cuthbert B, Lewis-Fernández R, et al. Three Approaches to Understanding and Classifying Mental Disorder: ICD-11, DSM-5, and the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Psychol Sci Public Interest, 2017.PMID 29211974
- [5]Kotov R, Krueger RF, Watson D, et al. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies J Abnorm Psychol, 2017.PMID 28333488
- [6]Gaebel W, Kerst A, Stricker J Classification and Diagnosis of Schizophrenia or Other Primary Psychotic Disorders: Changes from ICD-10 to ICD-11 and Implementation in Clinical Practice Psychiatr Danub, 2020.PMID 33370728
- [7]Insel TR The NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project: precision medicine for psychiatry Am J Psychiatry, 2014.PMID 24687194
- [8]Macneil CA, Hasty MK, Conus P, et al. Is diagnosis enough to guide interventions in mental health? Using case formulation in clinical practice BMC Med, 2012.PMID 23016556