In the article, “Heterogeneity in psychiatric diagnostic classification,” researchers from the UK describe their thematic analysis of diagnostic categories in the DSM-5.  They found variation in diagnostic criteria across several categories for different disorders.  The disorders that were reviewed for heterogeneity were schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, bipolar and related disorders, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders.

The authors conclude that,

“A pragmatic approach to psychiatric assessment, allowing for recognition of individual experience, may therefore be a more effective way of understanding distress than maintaining commitment to a disingenuous categorical system.”

What do you think?