- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.1 Delirium, dementia, amnesia, and other cognitive disorders
- 4.2 Substance use disorders
- 4.3 Schizophrenia and acute transient psychotic disorders
- 4.3.1 Schizophrenia: a conceptual history
- 4.3.2 Descriptive clinical features of schizophrenia
- 4.3.3 The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.4 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- 4.3.5 Epidemiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.6 Aetiology
- 4.3.7 Course and outcome of schizophrenia and their prediction
- 4.3.8 Treatment and management of schizophrenia
- 4.3.9 Schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders
- 4.3.10 Acute and transient psychotic disorders
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Chapter:
- Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Author(s):
Anthony S. David
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0074
Until the early 1970s, the diagnosis of schizophrenia was one of the most contentious and fraught issues in the whole of psychiatry. Since then a massive international effort has been put in motion out of which explicit diagnostic criteria emerged. Some achieved widespread and even multinational agreement, allowing the painstaking process of calculating diagnostic specificity, sensitivity, reliability, and (perhaps) validity to begin. Although criticism of the diagnosis of schizophrenia continues, mostly from outside psychiatrists, the vast majority of psychiatrists look upon the major sets of diagnostic criteria with weary acceptance, seeing them as flawed but useful and possibly ‘as good as it gets’ given our current state of knowledge/ignorance. This chapter covers diagnostic criteria, basis of classification, early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and finally the diagnostic process.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.1 Delirium, dementia, amnesia, and other cognitive disorders
- 4.2 Substance use disorders
- 4.3 Schizophrenia and acute transient psychotic disorders
- 4.3.1 Schizophrenia: a conceptual history
- 4.3.2 Descriptive clinical features of schizophrenia
- 4.3.3 The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.4 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- 4.3.5 Epidemiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.6 Aetiology
- 4.3.7 Course and outcome of schizophrenia and their prediction
- 4.3.8 Treatment and management of schizophrenia
- 4.3.9 Schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders
- 4.3.10 Acute and transient psychotic disorders
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry