Comorbidity in Mental Illness

anthony · #1 24-09-2007, 09:23 AM

I thought this might be relevant to those who do not understand what comorbid conditions are when you hear your doctor say such a thing. So here is the clinical definition:

Quote:

In psychiatry, psychology and mental health counseling comorbidity refers to the presence of more than one diagnosis occurring in an individual at the same time. In psychiatry, comorbidity does not necessarily imply the presence of multiple diseases, but instead can reflect our current inability to supply a single diagnosis that accounts for all symptoms. On the DSM Axis I, Major Depressive Disorder is a very common comorbid disorder. The Axis II personality disorders are often criticized because their comorbidity rates are excessively high, approaching 60% in some cases, indicating to critics the possibility that these categories of mental illness are too imprecisely distinguished to be usefully valid for diagnostic purposes and, thus, for deciding how treatment resources should be allocated. Comorbidity is also found to be high in drug addicts, both physiologically and psychologically.

Reading the above definition, even that states doctors are misdiagnosing comorbid conditions due to the fact symptoms are so similar. Comorbid conditions are far too high in diagnostic essence in present day. This refers exactly to those statements I make regarding doctors who tell you that you have PTSD + Major Anxiety Disorder + Major Depressive Disorder + Bipolar Disorder + Agoraphobic Disorder + Substance Abuse Disorder ++++++++

All bullshit... and the exact reason comorbid conditions are now taken with a grain of salt because pharmacology prescribing benefits has outweighted accurate diagnosis. In other words, the doctors want the monetary kickbacks from telling you you have lots of shit wrong with you when in fact you only have the one condition, they just need to justify their means to an end... the bottom line end that is. Sad when even the definition of these terms include the problems occurring within modern medicine.

To make it worse, doctors for medical diagnosis, not mental, have drummed up their own meaning for comorbid that isn't even a defined meaning, nor widely accepted, just another issue someone wants created to have their name recognised:

Quote:

In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest. There is currently no accepted way to quantify such comorbidity.

Many tests attempt to standardize the “weight” or value of comorbid conditions, whether they are secondary or tertiary illnesses. Each test attempts to consolidate each individual comorbid condition into a single, predictive variable that measures mortality or other outcomes. Researchers have "validated" such tests because of their predictive value, but no one test is as yet recognized as a standard.

The term "comorbid" currently has two definitions: 1) to indicate a medical condition existing simultaneously but independently with another condition in a patient (this is the older and more "correct" definition) 2) to indicate a medical condition in a patient that causes, is caused by, or is otherwise related to another condition in the same patient (this is a newer, nonstandard definition and less well-accepted).

Go figure ha!