Lists and categories

Unfortunately, I've gotten behind on my blogs. This is a catch up blog and there will be another one soon.

 Lists and especially categories are pretty numerous in the field of social work. First, there are two major types of social work, micro and macro. Micro deals with counseling and small community work while macro relates mostly to policies, grants, and other things on a large scale. Within the category of micro practice, a clinician can work with specific populations such as mentally ill people, the elderly, survivors of abuse, etc. These categories can also serve as lists to help a college student decide which population they want to work with.
The DSM-IV is an example of a book of categories and lists to help a social worker do their job. The DSM is what psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers use to diagnose individuals with mental illness. There are specific lists of criteria to be met in order to have a disorder. There are also different categories and axes of disorders. Personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders are examples of various categories within the DSM. It can also be used as a reference when trying to understand someone with a disorder.
Obviously, this is more of a brief than an exhaustive list of categories and lists in the social work field, but hopefully it gives the reader a better idea of how these lists are used.