A comparison of traditional and symptom-checklist-based histories.

The authors compared the results of independent evaluations of 96 patients, each of whom was given a traditional psychiatric interview, resulting in a narrative report, and a structured interview based on a self-report questionnaire, resulting in a standardized report. Although the latter method produced a higher frequency of report of all symptoms, the overall accuracy of diagnoses was similar for the two methods. The authors enumerate the potential benefits of the use of standardized histories.