title: Psychiatric classification as a reflection of uncertainties.
abstract: Some problems of psychiatric classification are discussed and a shift of viewpoint is suggested. The existence of a natural and inherent structure for the class of psychiatric disorders is a matter of dispute, and it is postulated that a continuous search for such natural structure may be futile. Clinical psychiatry shall try to answer a series of questions which can be formulated as a hierarchy of uncertainties. It is now suggested that the existing pool of information used for psychiatric description may be a reflection of these uncertainties. The pool shall be analysed for core-syndromes which are the reliable components of an alternative classification.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification*; D011570:Psychiatry; D013577:Syndrome