Abstract

Kirk and Kutchins begin with the fact that the primary justification for the development and adoption of DSM-III was that it would increase diagnostic reliability. In various contexts, they discuss the sources of diagnostic "error." One is information variance, the consequence of different clinicians asking different questions, receiving slightly different responses to the same questions, interpreting responses differently, and eliciting different behavior from the client. Another is criterion variance, the consequence of different opinions among clinicians about what information is relevant, how information should be interpreted, and what diagnostic category, if any, is appropriate. Other sources of "error" are differences in clinicians' past personal experiences, expectations, emotions, and illogical thinking, unfounded inferences, selective attention, and stereotypes