SCID Psychiatric measure

Two clinical measures of psychiatric disorder are included in the Collection. Initially the Present State Examination was used – a semi-structured interview covering depression and anxiety in the year before interview. Clnical thresholds were determined by the presence of key symptoms (labelled the Bedford College Criterioin) prior to the computerised diagnostic tests available.

However, this was supplanted by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM which was adopted because of its facility for measuring life time disorder and its modular format which meant that selected disorders could be assessed. However, whilst the SCID is usually completed ‘pen and paper’ at interview, in order to be consistent with other measures, the interview was tape-recorded and scored later after carefully listening to the recording. This together with consensus rating meetings were used to agree symptoms and diagnosis. These meetings and ratings were overseen by psychiatrists working with the team (Prof Tom Craig and Dr Soumitra Pathare).

Disorders examined over the lifecourse from the age of 13 included: Major Depression; Anxiety Disorders (Generalised Anxiety Disorder; Panic and/or Agoraphobia and Social Phobia); Substance Abuse and Dependence and Eating Disorder. In addition, conduct disorder and adult Antisocial Personality Disorder were also rated. Course of disorder over the lifespan was rated on a time record which was repeated for onset and offset of each disorder.

 

Key references Cooper, J. E., & et al. (1977). Further studies on interviewer training and inter-rater reliability of the Present State Examination (PSE).Psychological Medicine, 7, 517-523. Brown, G. W., & Craig, T. K. (1986). Psychiatric cases in community studies: How important an issue? Social Science and Medicine, 22, 173-183. First, M., Gibbon, M., Spitzer, R., & Williams, G. (1996). Users guide for SCID: Biometrics Research Division. Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E., & Sartorius, N. (1974). The measurement and classification of psychiatric symptoms: An instruction manual for the Present State Examination and CATEGO programme. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press