Joe has been diagnosed by his psychiatrist as having an anxiety disorder.His psychiatrist prescribes a medication that has been found to help reduce anxiety.Joe takes the medication but his anxiety level does not improve at all.Since an anxiety medication did not work,Joe concludes that his psychiatrist must be wrong and that he,Joe,must be suffering from some other disorder.What is the problem with Joe's conclusion?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Joe is making the mistake of assuming that because the medication did not work for him personally, his diagnosis must be incorrect. This is an example of the patient uniformity myth, which assumes that all patients with a certain diagnosis will respond in the same way to a particular treatment. In reality, individuals with the same diagnosis may have different responses to treatments due to factors such as genetics, personal history, and environmental factors.

Joe Has Been Diagnosed by His Psychiatrist as Having an Anxiety