title: Child psychiatrists' views of DSM-III-R: a survey of usage and opinions.
abstract: The DSM-IV Child Psychiatry Work Group surveyed 460 child psychiatrists about their use of DSM-III-R and their reactions to specific proposed nosological revisions for DSM-IV. This paper presents the responses of the sample as a whole and of respondent subgroups with different theoretical, practice, and training characteristics. The survey indicates that DSM-III and DSM-III-R are widely used and generally accepted by child psychiatrists. Ninety-eight percent of respondents believe a criterion-based diagnostic system is useful, and 65% consider DSM-III-R to be an improvement over DSM-III. Depending on the diagnosis 47% to 66% of the respondents reported that they generally assess all applicable criteria and 28% to 49% often refer to the manual before assigning a diagnosis. A majority of respondents supported proposals for several new diagnostic subtypes. Ninety-three percent of respondents indicated that "adequacy of family support" was very valuable for treatment planning or estimating prognosis. Fifty-five percent of respondents admitted to diagnosing adjustment disorders in order to avoid the stigma associated with other disorders. Child psychiatrists who are psychodynamically oriented or practicing in an office-based setting or out of training for more than 10 years tend to use the DSM-III-R less rigorously.
authors.affiliation: College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Setterberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Staghezza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics