Diagnosis and clinical assessment: current status and major issues

This chapter presented an overview of the current scene in the classification and assessment of psychopathology. Recent research on DSM-III and DSM-III-R was reviewed, and potential alternatives for, or supplements to DSM-III-R were examined. DSM-III-R was seen as a modest improvement over its predecessor, and several suggestions for its improvement were put forward. The societal and professional implications of the concept of mental disorder were considered, and the desirability of health insurance being extended to cover nonpathological personal crises was emphasized. Recent advances in clinical assessment methods, subdivided into checklists and rating scales, interview schedules, and psychological tests, were reviewed. The recent period was remarkable for the revision of important psychological tests, including the MMPI, CPI, and MCMI, and for the emergence of new inventories, including the BPI and the ISI. It is important to see all present diagnostic taxonomies, including the DSM-III-R, as tentative systems, due to be altered or replaced as additional research accumulates. The great need in the field reviewed is for additional, inspired research to further dispel the darkness that currently limits our understanding of the basic nature of human distresses and abnormal behaviors.