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The self-report fallacy: When diagnosis predominantly relies on subjective symptom report
1Vivantes Klinikum im Friedrichshain, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany; Psychologische Hochschule Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Self-report on symptomatology and history is an indispensable data source in the diagnostic process, but overreliance on it, in neglect of objective data, is a major source of error. Diagnostic error with subsequent wrong treatment and potential harm remains a pervasive problem in medicine in general, and in mental healthcare in particular. The text provides a short review of self-report bias and a number of other judgmental biases that are haunting current assessment and treatment practices.
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