ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one particular issue that has become controversial following the field trials: reliability. When the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (DSM-III) was published in 1980, it was presented as solving the problem of ensuring diagnostic reliability. The reliability of psychiatric diagnosis started to be a matter of some concern in the 1960s and 1970s. A number of studies sought to investigate the issue of reliability. Comparing the results of the different studies was difficult, as different studies employed different statistics and it was unclear what level of agreement one might reasonably expect. The point of the reliability tests was to demonstrate that the diagnostic criteria are reliable, but even now the results are in, it remains unclear whether the levels of reliability achieved are acceptable. This is because there are no generally accepted standards for what counts as reliable enough against which the DSM criteria can be judged.
