Psychiatric Diagnosis: British and North American Concordance on Stereotypes of Mental Illness
ANTHONY HORDERN M.D., M.R.C.P.E., M.R.C.P., D.P.M.1,
MYRON G. SANDIFER M.D.2,
LINDA M. GREEN B.A.3, and
GERALD C. TIMBURY M.B., F.R.C.P.(E.&G.), D.P.M.4
1 Consultant Psychiatrist, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
2 Professor of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, U.S.A.
3 North Carolina Foundation for Mental Health Research, Inc. Dorothea Dix Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina 27602, U.S.A.
4 Consultant Psychiatrist and Physician Superintendent, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow
The stereotypes of mental illness held by psychiatrists in the United Kingdom and United States were investigated by means of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual used in conjunction with a symptom and clue check list completed by 24 experienced diagnosticians in London, Glasgow, and North Carolina. The individual opinions were compared with the theoretical master stereotype for their own and for the other national group. The differences that were found were very small, suggesting that differences in conceptual framework are not a major source of diagnostic disagreement between psychiatrists who witness the same segment of a patient's behaviour.
Submitted on July 12, 1967
