ABSTRACT
In the field of medicine, it is traditional to speak of the diagnosis and treatment of illness or pathology. It is presumed, also, that a valid diagnosis of the illness is a necessary prelude to treatment. If one does not know what the illness is, then obviously it is rather difficult to treat it. For the most part, psychiatry, as a medical discipline, has tended to follow the medical tradition in matters of diagnosis. Following the Kraepelinian tradition, attempts have been made to diagnose or classify patients in terms of certain nosological categories. In any event, many psychologists, reluctantly or otherwise, were involved in the matter of helping to attach diagnostic labels on individuals with a variety of personality and behavioral disturbance. While some referrals may still request help with the formal diagnosis or diagnostic classification of the patient, particularly in medical settings, more emphasis is probably placed on other types of questions.
