Do psychiatrists do background research on their patients like a detective would? Or do they just base diagnosis' based on what they see?
by 
TallJasperMan
ANSWERS: 5
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No. There are various questionnaires which help to determine the diagnosis/diagnoses as well as various treatment options to which we need to assess the risks and benefits of each treatment according to the patient and his/her diagnoses. If further information is needed we would not do a background check. If we cannot quite put all the pieces together, we would take a close look at your records that we have access to or if we have very little but you have established psychiatric care elsewhere in the past, with your written permission (a "medical release"), we would obtain those records. We would glean the chart for any information that would provide useful to help diagnose you and come up with the proper treatment plan to help you feel better. EXAMPLE: JUNE 1996: "The patient states he moved several times per year all throughout elementary and high school." This proves helpful because you mentioned it 12 years ago to someone then and it was documented but hadn't mentioned it to anyone since and would go from there. I hope this helps.
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Collateral information is a valuable historical resource, obtained with a patient's permission.
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It depends on what you mean by "background research", but most of the time a simple review of the records and a questioning the patient about their past is sufficient.
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Diagnosis comes from criteria in DSM-IV. The psychiatrist then asks the patient about the past. Unless there on a forced hospitalization or legal matter. , the psychiatrist does not obtain outside information.
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Let's just say it's hard to find a qualified psychiatrist who really knows what he's doing. Most just base their diagnosis on what the book says..scary!
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