Premium
Fifty years of psychiatric nomenclature: Reflections on the 1943 War Department Technical Bulletin, Medical 203
Author(s) -
Houts Arthur C.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(200007)56:7<935::aid-jclp11>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - nomenclature , context (archaeology) , medical diagnosis , psychology , psychiatry , psychodynamics , medicine , psychoanalysis , history , taxonomy (biology) , botany , archaeology , pathology , biology
War Department Technical Bulletin, Medical 203 is presented in historical context as the first psychodynamic nomenclature. The history of Medical 203 is presented to show how Medical 203 was adapted to become DSM‐I. Medical 203 then is compared and contrasted to DSM‐IV to illustrate how changes in the modern DSMs have led to an 800% increase in the number of psychiatric diagnoses over the last half century. The role of critical history is emphasized in evaluating those changes and in speculating about the next 50 years of psychiatric nomenclature. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 56: 935–967, 2000.