Assessing Phobia Diagnoses and Improving Nosology

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Lerner, Alexander N.

Issue Date

2019

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Thesis

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Animal Models , Nosology , Phenomenology , Phobia , Terminology

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Abstract

Properly diagnosing a patient with phobia is important for patient remediation. Contemporary nosological models for phobia utilize the terminologies of biological and psychological fields. The difficulty for phobia diagnoses lies in the attempt to retain explanatory purity by competing biological and psychological models. Terminological shift occurs and important considerations for patient diagnosis are lost. A new concept of phobia nosology is discussed, centered around the phenomenology of phobia, which utilizes both biological and psychological terminologies in an effort to provide diagnostic stability and better capture the salient factors of the mental disorder. Following this, an examination into how we can retain current research with animal models is undergone as they are an important analog for studying the mind. Animal models are assessed as conceptually important for both kinds of terminologies and are shown to have potential for research with this new concept of phobia nosology. Lastly, an explanation for how phenomenology can be utilized in phobia nosology is discussed along with the effects it will have on nosology at large. Phenomenology provides nosological stability, an important factor that terminological shift currently neglects. The overall effort of this work is to show that phobia is underserved by contemporary models in mental health and that there is a possibility for a model based upon phenomenological considerations that may serve to improve diagnosis and lead to long-term patient remediation.

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