Tests, testing, and tested - we need to critically evaluate the meaning of tests in psychiatry.

This article describes clinical pitfalls in our concepts of what it means for an illness, diagnosis, or evaluation and treatment methods to say that they have been "tested". This articles begins with the problems encountered in newborn testing for Krabbe Disease of the nervous system in New York State over the last few years as an example of a test that did not live up to its promise to help the society. Next, the article gives 3 examples of testing in psychiatry, 1. Psychological testing to make treatment decisions in children with depression, 2. Patient's and parents who have been told, or believe, that they have Asperger's disorder, and 3. The conclusions made about the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy based on clinical studies. The article's conclusion sums up these examples as reasons why we need to have a more practical and scientific approach to our understanding and implementation of tests used in our field.