Purpose

The aim of the Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Health [SCID] is to be based on the model applied by the American Psychiatric Association and to adopt its criteria, in order to diagnose individuals suffering from some form of psychiatric condition.

Analysis

The Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Health [SCID] was designed by Spitzer et al. (1986), using the clinical criteria of the DSM-III-R, and allows for the diagnosis of six nosological entities on Axis I (SCID), the diagnosis of personality disorders on Axis II of the DSM-III-R (SCID II), and the overall assessment of functioning on Axis V. The Greek translation of the Structured Clinical Interview for Mental Health [SCID] was based on the revised editions of 1986 and 1988, with the final version corresponding to the 1990 edition.

Scoring

The identification and diagnosis of each individual suffering from a psychological condition is based on the individual meeting the specified criteria. Each symptom is scored as follows:
1 if the symptom is not present,
2 if the symptom is somewhat present,
3 if the symptom is clearly present,
according to the defined criteria.

Validity and Reliability

Researchers agreed in 91% of cases (K = 0.88, p < 0.001) for the accurate assessment of schizophrenia, 90% (K = 0.88, p < 0.001) for the diagnosis of mood disorders, and 67% for disorders related to bodily functions (K = 0.58, p < 0.001). Across all evaluations, 84% agreement was observed (K = 0.73, p < 0.001). A test-retest evaluation of 58 patients hospitalized in Community Mental Health Centers showed a significant percentage of agreement. The agreement rates across five categories ranged from 89% for substance abuse disorders to 75% for other disorders. Overall, the diagnoses matched in 84% of cases. Notably, there was 86.9% agreement in identifying healthy individuals among a total sample of 360 from the general population.

References

Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B., Gibbon, M., & First, M. B. (1992). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID): I: history, rationale, and description. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49(8), 624–629.
Yilmaz, N., Kugu, N., Kavakci, O., & Dogan, O. (2018). Psychopathology and sociodemographic characteristics in suicide attempters: a single center study. Cumhuriyet Medical Journal, 40(3), 215–225.