The dependence of psychiatric diagnosis on psychological assessment

This study examined the dependence of 500 inpatient psychiatric diagnoses on the results of standard psychological assessment procedures. A 43% agreement was found between psychological test findings and psychiatric discharge diagnoses. While this level of agreeement is greater than chance, it suggests that psychological test results are not of value in more than one-half of the cases investigated. Specific diagnostic discrepancies between clinical and psychological diagnostic results were noted, and several explanations for these differences were offered.