Assessing a Case Against Diagnostic Criteria

Assessing a case means checking symptom count, duration, impairment, cultural context, and exclusion criteria before naming any diagnosis.

Two case vignettes worked through in full against criteria, in that order. The first meets criteria for one diagnosis and appears at first to meet criteria for two. The second does not meet the impairment threshold at all, and the correct conclusion is that no diagnosis applies. Every criterion checked aloud, including the ones that rule things out.