PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS - A STUDY OF SPECIFICITY OF SINGLE SYMPTOMS

The importance of single symptoms in the diagnostic process has not be en adequately studied, mainly because of the complexity of the informa tion involved. The aim of the present study is to investigate the inte rconnection between psychopathological assessment and diagnostic class ification, with the aid of a nonparametric, inductive pattern recognit ion method. Using the concept of inductive logic and a theory of induc tive knowledge acquisition a model has been developed to describe psyc hopathological assessment and diagnostic classification. Based on a co mprehensive psychopathological assessment in 837 patients with 14 diff erent diagnoses, classification values were calculated for specific sy mptoms in different diagnostic groups. Furthermore, nonparametric stat istical procedures have advantages over discriminant analytic approach es: more information is utilized in differentiating the groups and dif ferentiations can be made between more groups, whereby the rate of cor rectly classified cases is comparable with discriminant analytic appro aches. The pattern recognition method appears to illustrate the multid imensional, medical decision-making in a comprehensible way.