title: Psychopathology and classification in psychiatry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The strengths and weaknesses of the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association are considered, and the likely form of the revised version of the International Classification of Disease, due to be released in the future is briefly considered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is argued that there are a number of problems in the checklist approach to diagnosis: there are no points of rarity between common disorders, and that many disorders are rough groupings containing highly heterogeneous syndromes. The tendency to reify these disorders and to view them as independent entities, and to stretch the concept of co-morbidity to cover individuals who satisfy more than one of the diagnostic checklists is seen as being misleading as it gives a false air of precision.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two broadly similar solutions are proposed for an alternative approach to common mental disorders.
authors: Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK, davidpgoldberg@yahoo.com.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D057189:Checklist; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D011599:Psychopathology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D009626:Terminology as Topic