The authors identify the differences in formal inclusion and exclusion
criteria used to classify patient data into diagnoses as the largest source
of diagnostic unreliability in psychiatry. They describe the efforts that
have been made to reduce these differences, particularly the specified
criteria approach to defining diagnostic categories, which was developed
for research purposes. On the basis of studies showing that the use of
specified criteria increases the reliability of diagnostic judgments, they
suggest that including such criteria in the next edition of APA's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) would
improve the reliability and validity of routine psychiatric diagnosis.
Abstract Teaser