[Interrater reliability of amp symptoms (author's transl)]

Two psychiatrists examined 48 patients (25 depressed and 23 schizophrenic). Each documented the symptoms on AMP sheets 3 (psychopathologic symptoms) and 4 (somatic signs, first column only). The study deals with 139 AMP symptoms. Seventy could be judged concerning symptom exists/does not exist. Of these 70 symptoms, 45 showed a good or moderate interrater reliability. Specific symptoms had a better reliability than nonspecific. Symptoms described by the patients had a better reliability than those judged by the doctor alone. The results indicate that expanded use of the AMP system in its present form is problematic. Work on a new version of the AMP system has already begun.