Psychiatric Symptoms in Community, Clinic, and Mental Hospital Groups

Do large proportions of the general population show psychiatric symptomatology resembling that seen in psychiatric patients? Responses by 248 adult leader, community sample, and patient subjects in Washington Heights. New York City, to questions about 46 symptoms show that quantitative resemblance exists. This resemblance is due mainly, however, to the high frequency of less serious symptoms in the nonpatient groups. Moreover, regardless of clinicians' ratings of severity, the particular symptoms tended to be judged less serious by those who reported them in nonpatient than in patient groups.