The Feighner Criteria are a set of influential

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psy ...

diagnostic criteria developed at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

between the late 1950s to the early 1970s. The criteria are named after a psychiatric paper published in 1972 of which John Feighner was the first listed author. It became the most cited article in psychiatry for some time. The development of the criteria had been led by a trio of psychiatrists working together on the project for a

medical model ''Medical model'' is the term coined by psychiatrist R. D. Laing in his ''The Politics of the Family and Other Essays'' (1971), for the "set of procedures in which all doctors are trained". It includes complaint, history, physical examinatio ...

of psychiatric diagnosis since the late 1950s:

Eli Robins Eli Robins (1921 Texas – 1994 Washington) was an American psychiatrist who played a pivotal role in establishing the way mental disorders are researched and diagnosed today. Early career Robins finished his medical training and residencies at Ha ...

, Samuel Guze and George Winokur. Fourteen conditions were defined, including primary affective disorders (such as depression),

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

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and antisocial personality disorder. The criteria were expanded in the publication of the

Research Diagnostic Criteria The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) are a collection of influential psychiatric diagnostic criteria published in late 1970s under auspices of Statistics Section NY Psychiatric Institute, authors were Spitzer, R L; Endicott J; Robins E. PMID 115 ...

on which many of the criteria of the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involv ...

DSM III The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...

(1980) were based, which in turn shaped the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

's ICD manual. "The historical record shows that the small group of individuals who created the Feighner criteria instigated a paradigm shift that has had profound effects on the course of American and, ultimately, world psychiatry."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Commentary on the criteria by John Feighner (written in 1989)
Classification of mental disorders Psychiatric research

See also

References

External links