Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional.

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional. Couple and family practitioners view change as relational and systemic. Yet, because they work within a larger system of mental health professionals, it is important for them to be conversationally competent with diagnosis. Your dilemma, then, as a couple and family helping professional, is how to use a diagnostic manual that is individual in focus.

This week, you explore why couple and family helping professionals should be familiar with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and the advantages and disadvantages of such knowledge. You also submit your Final Project, a paper outlining your theoretical counseling orientation as it relates to client work with couples and families.

Students will:

• Analyze the use of DSM-5 related to couple and family consultations
• Evaluate advantages and disadvantages of helping professionals being familiar with the DSM-5
• Evaluate personal theoretical orientation in working with couples and families

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Required Readings

Optional Resources

Use the link below to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

MSW home page

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Discussion: Couple and Family Counseling and the DSM-5

Though the philosophy and values surrounding couple and family counseling emphasize prevention and wellness, awareness of diagnosis is important when interacting with other mental health professionals who may view mental health issues through the medical model. The DSM-5, the primary diagnostic system/manual used in the United States by such professionals, identifies and describes individual mental health disorders, not relational issues or disorders.

Those mental health professionals who adopt a systems or relational view of mental health have been able to implement small changes within the DSM in its subsequent editions, and these changes acknowledge the systemic influence on certain individual disorders. Nevertheless, there is not yet an adopted diagnostic structure for relational problems. Therefore, you may sometimes need to negotiate your relational perspective with other professionals and communicate client matters with insurance reimbursement boards (who see mental health problems as individual in nature) in their language.

For this Discussion, you will examine the DSM-5 and how it informs your professional practice. You also explore the advantages and disadvantages of being familiar with the DSM-5.

By Day 4

Post an example of a specific instance in which you may need to consult with another mental health professional who utilizes the DSM-5. Then, explain how your familiarity with the DSM-5 may influence this consultation. Next, explain one advantage and one disadvantage of a couple and family practitioner being familiar with the DSM-5. Be specific.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 6

Respond to two of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:

• Ask a probing question.
• Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
• Offer and support an opinion.
• Make a suggestion.
• Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Submission and Grading Information

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 10 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 4 and Respond by Day 6

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 10 Discussion

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Final Project

77For your Final Project, you will write a 8- to 10-page theory paper that articulates your theoretical orientation toward working with couples and families.

Your paper must include the following elements that evolve from your personal theoretical orientation:

• The basic view of human nature as seen through your theoretical lens
• Key factors that account for changes in behavior
• An explanation of how intervention strategies are designed within this theoretical orientation
• An explanation of how your theory conceptualizes mental health
• Key factors that contribute to healthy family/couple relationships
• A description of the skills necessary within this theoretical orientation to meet the agreed upon goals and outcomes for couples and families
• The nature of the practitioner-client relationship and its relative importance
• An explanation of the evidence to support your theoretical orientation as an appropriate intervention for couples and families in need.

Information on scholarly writing may be found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), and at the Walden Writing Center website.

By Day 7

Submit your Final Project.

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK10Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 10 Project Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 10 Project link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from thisarea.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK10Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global ReferenceDatabase.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 10 Project Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 10 Project draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:

Week 10 Project

Week 10:The DSM-5 and the Helping Professional

Week in Review

In this week, you explored why couple and family helping professionals should be familiar with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), and the advantages and disadvantages of such knowledge.

In the next week, you will begin to scratch the surface of the potential diversity of today’s couples and families as you explore the impact of culture, gender, and sexual orientation on familial dynamics.

To go to the next week:

Week 11