Social versus clinical prediction in minor psychiatric disorders

Fifty new psychiatric outpatients, suffering from minor disorders, were assessed using standardized social and clinical interview schedules. Forty-six were successfully followed-up six months later and their condition was assessed using a specially constructed rating scale. Social dysfunction in the area of the patient's material circumstances was the single most important predictive variable. Clinical predictions of outcome were shown to be closely related to the proportion of time the patient had been ill over the five years before inception.