The Validity of Psychiatric Diagnosis under Conditions of Physical Trauma: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The validity of psychiatric diagnosis obtained from hospitalized trauma patients was investigated to determine whether hospitalization with associated pain, discomfort, and medication artificially inflated the estimated prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses. Diagnostic Interview Schedule results from eleven hospitalized patients were compared with those obtained from the same patients after discharge. Diagnoses were found to be consistent for eight of eleven patients and eleven of fifteen diagnoses remained unchanged. This study yielded no evidence that recent trauma and hospitalization significantly influenced the initial psychiatric diagnoses obtained using the DIS.