“The Importance of Gathering Detailed Patient Information in Mental Health Treatment: A Review of Research and Differentiating Malingering from DSM-5 Diagnosis” “Comprehensive Patient Information: The Key to Individualized Treatment Planning and Differentiating Malingering from DSM-5 Diagnoses”

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Peer 1
Jessica
Patient Information
Mental health is a major world health issue. It significantly affects the patient’s physical, social, and mental well-being. All mental health professionals must take their patients’ detailed and thorough historical information. The patient’s historical information is essential for mental health professionals. It allows them to design treatment and diagnosis plans for the patient. The patient’s health information should include a comprehensive social history, medical history, and full mental status examination with a probable treatment plan.
Importance of gathering detailed information
Improved diagnosis
According to Bickman’s (2020) research on improving mental health services, gathering comprehensive mental health information on patients was critical in improving the diagnosis. Evidence from his research shows that a thorough understanding of a patient’s background effectively helped mental health professionals arrive at a more accurate diagnosis. Bickman (2020) confirmed that mental illness often shares similar characteristics and joint symptoms. Therefore, the detailed information from the patient can help professionals compare notes and establish a more accurate and improved treatment. 
Establishing more effective treatment
According to Gamby et al. (2021), in their study of the importance of patients’ wellness histories and recommendations, gathering past information on patients’ mental status is essential in establishing a more effective treatment. It helps in understanding patients’ unique symptoms and conditions. This allows the care providers to tailor an individualized treatment plan for the patient. 
Reducing risks of medication errors
According to Nicholson et al. (2020), the already-established trend of collecting comprehensive patient history and information on mental status paved the way for correct dosage and psychotropic medication. The study revealed that mental health professionals were able to make the diagnosis more accurately and commenced treatments resulting from the information provided. Therefore, medical officers in mental health clinics should start collecting patients’ data before deciding on the medication to be provided to reduce the chances of medication errors.
Defining Malingering
Malingering refers to a case where patients lie about their mental conditions to avoid legal litigation or financial compensation.  In most cases, a malingering diagnosis occurs when a patient wants secondary benefits and does not gain mental health wellness.
Differentiating between Malingering and DSM-5 Diagnosis
The patient’s motivation is a major way of differentiating malingering, and an accurate DSM-5 diagnosis is motivation.  According to Schram (2021), people with DSM-5 are distressed by their condition and are motivated by the need to improve their mental health. However, malingering patients are motivated by external rewards. Patients fake their conditions to escape a criminal sentence, get free drugs, and gain financial compensation. In most cases, malingering occurs during civil litigation or criminal trials. Victims pose to be mentally impaired to avoid their sentences. 
The second way to identify the difference between malingering and DSM-5 diagnosis is inconsistency in the symptoms. According to Hall & Poirier (2020), the DSM-5 diagnosis is conducted on patients with real mental health conditions. Therefore, their symptoms are always consistent. However, patients who are malingering have inconsistency with symptoms presented in the diagnosed disorder. For instance, when malingering, a patient posing to have depression can be reported as having emotional numbness, which is not a common symptom for patients with depression.
Peers 2
Edelyne
Patient Information
Three Key Reasons Why Thorough Historical Information is Crucial
Accurate Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis
To make an accurate (correct) diagnosis, mental health professionals need all the necessary information about the patient: a medical history, a social history, and a mental status examination (Voss & Das, 2022). The diagnosis could be wrong, and as a consequence, the patient may be rendered to take an unsuitable treatment and incur potential harm. Comprehensive medical information is valuable background information that allows healthcare providers to reflect on the other possible diagnoses apart from the primary one and, hence, give the most conclusive treatment. Thus, it makes it possible for the chosen plan of treatment to rely on the nature of the illness, avoiding hazards of misuse of drugs or waste of resources spent on ineffective measures.
Individualized Treatment Planning
A detailed patient history plays a pivotal role in that it equips clinicians to develop a treatment plan individually made based on a patient’s unique previous experiences, preferences, and requirements. Learning about a patient’s social environment, such as family, cultural background, and medical history, assists in fine-tuning and individualizing treatment and compassionate care (Stubbe, 2020). An individualized approach results in higher treatment compliance, while patients become more likely to remain engaged in a therapy that aligns with their specifics.
Risk Assessment and Safety
Among various factors, it is helpful in risk assessment for recognition of the treatment-related risks that may affect the patient, like self-harm, suicide, violence, or neglect. Identifying supporting treatments helps an individual be safe and puts them into appropriate care, either as an inpatient or an outpatient. Careful risk assessment, which includes crisis intervention or safety planning, is a vital part of the safety measures that will protect the patient and others (Saab et al., 2021).
Definition of Malingering
Malingering is any production of psychological and physical symptoms or exaggeration performed on purpose to meet some external benefits expectations, including avoiding work, receiving financial compensation, or avoiding legal responsibility (Alozai & McPherson, 2020). It is not a medical diagnosis but a compulsive psychological behaviour with secondary welfare motives.
Differentiating Malingering from DSM-5 Diagnoses
Inconsistencies in Symptom Presentation
Malingering is more likely to be associated with disjointed or overstated symptoms. People may complain of severe symptoms incoherent with observed behaviour or laboratory results. Nurses may detect contradictions between subjects’ reported severity of the symptoms and their objective evidence, suggesting that a client could exaggerate his or her health state (Bellman et al., 2022). Contrary to this, the authentic DSM-5 diagnoses are more consistent in the exhibited symptoms and generally backed by clinical observation.
External Incentives and Secondary Gain
One characteristic trait of malingering is that there are external incentives or secondary gains (such as seeking exemption from work and receiving financial compensation) that are found among patients. Mental health professionals have to establish whether a patient’s allegedly reported symptoms are associated with the given external benefit (Sweet et al., 2021). In contrast, DSM-5 diagnoses are not ordinarily associated with secondary gain due to a lack of motive, and patients with these conditions usually experiencing emotional distress or impairment in daily functioning without any apparent external reinforcements.