A comparison between the Present State Examination and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Item-by-item interrater agreement, CATEGO syndrome and class agreement, and agreement for Index of Definition were compared for the Present State Examination (PSE) and for the PSE items included in the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Both interviews were given to 30 subjects representing a wide range of diagnoses, including hospitalized psychotic patients and outpatients with milder neurotic symptoms. Although agreement over individual questions was disappointing, when broader issues, such as syndrome classification, diagnostic class, and severity, were considered, agreement between interviews attained statistical significance.