A comparison of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and clinical diagnosis

The Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) was administered to 220 psychiatric patients by lay interviewers. Kappas for agreement between DIS and chart diagnoses ranged from .39 to -.03 and averaged .14 for 13 diagnostic categories. Agreement was best for affective, obsessive-compulsive, and schizophrenic disorders and was poorest for phobias where patients overemphasized fears. The authors suggest that clinician evaluation of information collected by the DIS is important, especially in diagnosing individual cases.