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The Reliability of the Family History Method for Psychiatric Diagnoses
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The Reliability of the Family History Method for Psychiatric Diagnoses

Mark Zimmerman, William Coryell, Bruce Pfohl and Dalene Stangl
Archives of general psychiatry, Vol.45(4), pp.320-322
04/01/1988
DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.1988.01800280030004
PMID: 3281625

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Abstract

• We evaluated the test-retest interrater reliability of the Family History Research Diagnostic Criteria (FH-RDC) in 58 depressed patients who described 341 first-degree relatives. Reliability was examined as a function of the threshold to determine caseness. In general, diagnostic reliability was good-excellent for specific FH-RDC disorders, but not for the residual category of other psychiatric disorder. A higher diagnostic threshold was associated with greater reliability, especially for the diagnosis of depression. Patient variance accounted for a greater percentage of the disagreements between the acthan did rater variance.

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