Main description:

This efficient, user-friendly instrument will help clinicians make standardized, reliable, and accurate diagnoses and avoid the common problem of "premature closure" - the premature focus on one diagnostic possibility. It will also help clinicians of all levels of experience improve their clinical assessment and interviewing techniques and provides extensive documentation of the diagnostic process, an essential procedure in today's managed care world. Specifically adapted from the research standard for Axis I structured clinical interviewing for use in clinical settings, the SCID-I covers those DSM-IV diagnoses most commonly seen by clinicians and includes the diagnostic criteria for these disorders with corresponding interview questions. The SCID-I is divided into six self-contained modules that can be administered in sequence: mood episodes; psychotic symptoms; psychotic disorders; mood disorders; substance use disorders; and anxiety, adjustment, and other disorders. The reusable "Administration Booklet" contains interview questions and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.
It is designed to be used with the Scoresheet during a 45- to 90-minute session and is tabbed to help the clinician move from one section to another.