Although at first sight the DSM-IV classification system appears to provide clinicians with a useful framework of which to view their clients, on closer inspection however, the picture is somewhat less satisfactory. Criticisms of the system range from Wakefield's (1997) analysis that psychological presentation ranges from problems of living to harmful dysfunction; through to Livesley, Schroeder & Jang's (1994) counter-argument that evidence of discontinuity between different diagnoses and normality would support the DSM's proposal of distinct diagnostic categories. …showed first 75 words of 1974 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1974 total…-243. McElroy, J.L, Hudson, K, Harrison, D.L., Kreck, A., and Aizley, A. (1992). Impulse control disorder.. London: Oxford University Press. Wakefield, J.C. (1992) the concept of mental disorder: On the boundary between biological facts and social values. American Psychologist, 47,3, 373-388 Wakefield, J.C. (1992) Diagnosing DSM-IV-Part I: DSM-IV and the concept of disorder. Behaviour, research and therapy, 35,7, 633-649. Wittenborn (1981). In Bradford & Balmaceda, (1998). Shoplifting: Is there a specific Psychiatric Syndrome? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, June.235-243.