Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1052-1055
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
The normalcy of self-proclaimed "normal volunteers"
U Halbreich, Y Bakhai, KB Bacon, S Goldstein, GM Asnis, J Endicott and J Lesser
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, State University of New York, Buffalo 14215.
Volunteers who claimed they were "healthy and normal" and did not reveal
any physical or mental abnormality or medication use during brief
structured interviews underwent detailed structured interviews with the
Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Diagnoses were based on
the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), and family history was determined
with the Family History RDC. Of the 121 volunteers, 16.5% met criteria for
diagnoses of current mental disorders. Of the 104 without current DSM-III
axis I diagnoses, 35.6% had past histories and 39.4% had family histories
of mental illness. These results emphasize the need for thorough assessment
of "normal volunteers."
