STENGEL E
Bull World Health Organ. 1959;21(4-5):601-63.
diagnoses can rarely be verified objectively and the same or similar conditions are described under a confusing variety of names. This situation militates against the ready exchange of ideas and experiences and hampers progress. As a first step towards remedying this state of affairs, the author of the article below has undertaken a critical survey of existing classifications. He shows how some of the difficulties created by lack of knowledge regarding pathology and etiology may be overcome by the use of "operational definitions" and outlines the basic principles on which he believes a generally acceptable international classification might be constructed. If this can be done it should lead to a greater measure of agreement regarding the value of specific treatments for mental disorders and greatly facilitate a broad epidemiological approach to psychiatric research.
制定精神障碍分类的一个基本困难在于，精神科医生对于分类应基于的概念缺乏共识：诊断很少能得到客观验证，相同或相似的病症被用各种令人困惑的名称来描述。这种情况不利于思想和经验的顺畅交流，阻碍了进步。作为改善这种状况的第一步，下文的作者对现有的分类进行了批判性审视。他展示了如何通过使用“操作性定义”来克服因对病理学和病因学缺乏了解而产生的一些困难，并概述了他认为可以构建一个普遍可接受的国际分类的基本原则。如果能够做到这一点，应该会在精神障碍特定治疗方法的价值方面达成更大程度的共识，并极大地促进对精神病学研究的广泛流行病学方法。
