Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:631-636
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Trends in the frequency of schizophrenia by different diagnostic criteria
JB Kuriansky, BJ Gurland, RL Spitzer and J Endicott
The authors report results of rediagnoses of 128 cases from two decades
(1932-1941 and 1947-1956) by clinicians using the Research Diagnostic
Criteria as guidelines and compare these results to rediagnoses by
clinicians in a previous study using more general guidelines. Although
hospital records indicated an increased frequency of schizophrenia over the
two decades, the rediagnosticians found no change or a decrease. Severity
of symptoms did not change during the two decades, but patients in the
second decade showed more borderline symptoms, leading to more diagnostic
disagreement. The authors conclude that changes in diagnostic criteria and
pateints' conditions influence admission trends for schizophrenia.
