Importance Of Assessment And Diagnosis

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Why Diagnosis is Important and Necessary… Why Diagnosis is Important and Necessary… Diagnosis is a seemingly simple word for those individuals outside the professional medical and mental health communities, yet it is the most important word for the patient/client and the physician/clinician for the reason that it is the roadmap to successful treatment of the client’s condition or illness. Without a proper diagnosis, the client will continue to suffer from the symptoms of their illness, disease, syndrome, or disorder that initiated his or her original visit to the doctor or clinician. Further, in both medical and mental health, if an individual is suffering from ongoing and untreated symptoms, it is likely that friends, family, and others interpersonal relationships of this individual are, in one way or another, suffering as well. Therefore, it is the diagnosis, or rather the “proper diagnosis” that is the crucial key to the strategic planning and management of a client/patients condition, which will determine and initiate appropriate implementation of treatment. The Greek term diagnosis, meaning distinguishing, is the identification of the cause or nature of a specific illness or condition (Morrison, 2007). Diagnosis is also defined as the recognition of a disease by the observation of outward signs and symptoms or the analysis of physiological and or biochemical causes of a disease, condition, or illness that can be ascertained through a series of tests. There is a clear distinction in the ease of diagnosis of a client/patient between the medical doctor and the mental health clinician. This distinction is due to the lack clear-cut symptoms to the mental health professional. For example, if an individual visits a medical doctor’s office due to a persistent headache, this is a symptom, it is a symptom of “what” that needs to be determined, yet the symptom can be
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