HiTOP

    Both authors made valid points regarding the reliability and utility of the HiTOP model compared to the DSM. I think HiTOP provides a unique perspective that psychologists have needed for years. It allows for a descriptive and dimensional approach to diagnosing that the DSM has not historically offered. As we have discussed in class, there is a need to look at certain disorders on a scale, and HiTOP offers that. The authors used social anxiety as an example. One disorder can have two extremes that look completely different so how are we supposed to diagnose it? I think this is one strength of the HiTOP model. 

    However, when I first saw the diagram, I was very underwhelmed. How can they take nine-hundred pages of diagnostic material and put it into one graph? I know it is not covering all disorders, but is it simplifying the disorders it does cover too much? I also wondered how it would be used in a clinical setting. This article provided an example and compared it to the DSM: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6859953/. I really liked the emphasis HiTOP puts on treating symptoms instead of the disorder alone. Since disorders can have different symptoms, it is important to notice these differences, which is not something the DSM traditionally emphasizes. It also allows for more room for different psychological approaches. If you focus on the symptoms, and the similarities between disorders, clinicians can do what they will with the information. Is the eating disturbance a behavioral problem, a cognitive problem, or an unconscious issue? 

    Like most things, I think there needs to be a balance. Both the DSM and HiTOP are essential and helpful for clinicians to use to best help their patients. A combination of understanding the "by the book" diagnosis and the more abstract, holistic side of diagnoses is important. Both have pros and cons, but if it is our job to constantly be learning, we should be aware of these limitations and find better ways to go about them.