[Use of DSM-III R and other psychometric tests in consultation psychiatry. Consideration of 85 patients]

Abstract

DSM-III R diagnostic categories were used in 85 consecutive patients attending consultation at the Liaison Psychiatry Service of Padua University School of Medicine. The aim was to render the diagnosis as objective as possible. The same patients were asked to fill in three well-known self-rating scales (Eysenck Personality Inventory, Illness Behaviour Questionnaire, Symptom Rating Test) and the scores obtained were correlated with the diagnostic categories. In the Authors' opinion, the use of diagnostic instruments in the traditional psychiatric setting of the consultation allows a marked improvement in the understanding of the content of the prescription written by the referring physician. DSM-III R is an instrument which meets such requirements. The same cannot be said of the rating scales used, which were found less useful.