Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Review of Research focuses on the heuristic value of psychiatric diagnoses. This book describes the purpose of a diagnosis that enables clinicians to make certain judgments regarding the life of the individual being diagnosed. Making a diagnosis should be identical to a shorthand way of saying certain things about the patient such as where he has been, where he is, and where he may be heading psychologically. This text determines what information is provided by a diagnostic statement in the matter of psychopathology. Other topics discussed include the diagnostic princi.