The need for tests of normal functioning in the psychiatric interview

Physical medicine has a body of normal findings that make possible the definition of disease states. The routine procedures of psychiatry do not include any such tests of health. As a result, the psychiatric concept of illness has no stable base from which specific conditions can be described. The author suggests two human capacities, connectedness and self-protectiveness, that can be assessed by the psychiatrist in attempting to evaluate the patient's overall psychological health.