Should distress and impairment be required for psychiatric diagnosis?
DSM-style diagnostic criteria often require distress or impairment. We distinguish four questions: why a condition belongs in psychiatric classification, whether an individual meets its criteria, how significant it is for that person and what response is warranted. Distress and impairment should not be universal requirements for individual diagnosis.
Authors
- Derek Strijbos
- Christiaan H. Vinkers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3698-0744)
- Gerben Meynen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7298-8407)
Institutions
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Dimence (NL)
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers (NL)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2026.10876
- Primary Topic
- Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00