Computer-Assisted Psychiatric Diagnosis

Abstract

Accurate psychiatric diagnosis is critical for both sound clinical interventions and valid research methodology. Over the years, attempts to improve diagnostic reliability and accuracy led to the development of more explicit operationalized diagnostic criteria, starting with DSM-III, and subsequently fully structured and semistructured diagnostic interviews.¹ As diagnostic assessment changed and with advances in technology, the use of computers soon developed in parallel to improve the reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis. As far back as 1968, computers were used to help clinicians formulate psychiatric diagnoses, by helping them process clinical information according to diagnostic algorithms.² Since that time, there has been an exponential rise in the use of technology in clinical research and practice. Indeed, computers have been used both to transition diagnostic interviews from paper-and-pencil format to instruments that are clinician-administered via an electronic platform and to create self-report versions of clinician-administered diagnostic interviews. We will discuss each of these in turn.