The purpose of the clinical diagnosis in clinical settings is to provide clear descriptions of diagnostic categories in order to enable clinicians and investigators to diagnose, communicate about, study, and treat people with various mental disorders. The specific diagnostic criteria included in Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are meant to serve as guidelines to be informed by clinical judgment and they are useful to facilitate research and improve communication among clinicians and researchers. Nonetheless, the limitations of the categorical classification system are suggested that there is not contained enough information about psychotherapy of mental disorders. In determining whether traditional categorical classification system of mental disorders has a specified utility and credibility, additional informations of treatment in mental patients are usually required beyond that contained in the traditional categorical classification system.
The diagnostic and theoretical explanatory models of mental disorders included informations about diagnosis based on symptoms of patients with mental problems, and contained informations about therapeutic techniques and procedures, in addition to information about symptoms and bio-psychological conditions of specific mental disorders. New knowledges of diagnostic and theoretical explanatory models about mental disorders will undoubtedly lead to an increased understanding of mental illness, and to help an appropriate decision making whether which treatment is the most effective methods, when a clinicians needs to treat the patients.
Key Words: Psychotherapy, Clinical diagnosis, Behavior analysis, Diagnostic explanatory model