[Diagnosis of stressful life events in clinical routine practice using a (half) standardized interview]

50 in-patients and 50 out-patients were assessed with a semi-structured interview based on the revised version of axis V (abnormal psychosocial situations) of the Multi-axial Classification Scheme. The interviewer was not acquainted with the patient's history. The information acquired during in-patient treatment was comparable to that obtained by interview, whereas during out-patient treatment, less information with lower reliability was obtained than on the interview. The study also shows that certain psychosocial factors can be identified better by interview and others by clinical assessment.