Table 1.

Feighner and Colleagues’ Five Diagnostic Criteria for Use in Psychiatric Research

Clinical Description: Describes the clinical picture of the disorder (i.e., one striking feature or a combination of features thought to be associated with one another). Examples: race, sex, age at onset, precipitating factors, and other items that may define the clinical picture precisely. Laboratory Studies: Chemical, physiological, radiological, and anatomical (biopsy or autopsy) findings, as well as certain psychological tests. Delimitation from Other Disorders: Specify exclusion criteria so that patients with other illnesses are not included in the study group. Follow-up Studies: Determine whether or not the original patients are now suffering from some other defined disorder that could account for the original clinical picture. Evolution of the original illness to another disorder suggests that the original patients were not of a homogenous group. Family Studies: Most psychiatric illnesses run in families. Increased prevalence of the same disorder among close relatives.