Differential Diagnosis for Selective Abstraction
- Single most likely diagnosis
- Depressive Disorder: Selective abstraction is a cognitive distortion where an individual focuses on a single, often negative aspect of a situation while ignoring other, more positive aspects. This is commonly seen in depressive disorders, where individuals may have a pessimistic outlook and tend to selectively focus on negative information.
- Other Likely diagnoses
- Anxiety Disorder: Similar to depressive disorders, anxiety disorders can also involve selective abstraction, where individuals may focus on perceived threats or negative outcomes, exacerbating their anxiety.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Individuals with PTSD may exhibit selective abstraction by focusing on traumatic aspects of their experience, while ignoring other, more neutral or positive aspects.
- Do Not Miss (ddxs that may not be likely, but would be deadly if missed.)
- Psychotic Disorder: In some cases, selective abstraction can be a feature of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, where individuals may focus on delusional thoughts or perceptions while ignoring contradictory evidence.
- Neurocognitive Disorder: Certain neurocognitive disorders, such as frontotemporal dementia, can affect cognitive processing and lead to selective abstraction, although this would be a less common presentation.
- Rare diagnoses
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: While not typically characterized by selective abstraction, individuals with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may exhibit a rigid and narrow focus on specific details or aspects of a situation, which could be mistaken for selective abstraction.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder: In some cases, individuals with autism spectrum disorder may exhibit selective attention or focus on specific details, which could be misinterpreted as selective abstraction. However, this would be a rare and atypical presentation.