OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to make a case for freeing psychiatry from the limits of categorical diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: From Pinel through to Kraepelin, Bleuler, DSM-IV and ICD-10, clinical and research activities in psychiatry have all depended upon categorical classification. Recent decades have seen increasing argument in favour of dimensional measurement, description and prediction, in part because invalidities in categorical classification are becoming impossible to deny. Some suggestions for developing useful dimensional approaches are made.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to make a case for freeing psychiatry from the limits of categorical diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: From Pinel through to Kraepelin, Bleuler, DSM-IV and ICD-10, clinical and research activities in psychiatry have all depended upon categorical classification. Recent decades have seen increasing argument in favour of dimensional measurement, description and prediction, in part because invalidities in categorical classification are becoming impossible to deny. Some suggestions for developing useful dimensional approaches are made.