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Past and Present State Examination: the assessment of ‘lifetime ever’ psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Peter McGuffin*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Randy Katz
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Julie Aldrich
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr P. McGuffin, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.

Synopsis

A Past History Schedule (PHS) for use in conjunction with the Present State Examination (PSE) is described. The PHS/PSE interview enables a rating of ‘lifetime ever’ psychopathology to be performed. It provides good inter-rater reliability, as well as a satisfactory agreement between retrospective interviews and casenote-based assessment of past psychopathology. The PHS has been devised specifically for use in a family-genetic study of affective illness, but the general approach may be applicable to other categories of psychiatric disorder.

Type
Brief Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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