A learning aid for DSM-III: computerized prompting of diagnostic criteria.

To help overcome many of the difficulties of learning and using the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry, a system was developed for reviewing its contents as appropriate to individual clinical cases. It is faithful in format and contents to this Manual. This system is now being regularly used by medical students, residents, and psychiatrists on a voluntary basis, as a teaching aid. It also allows measurement of how the interpretation of DSM-III criteria differs among these groups. This system can be used on relatively inexpensive microcomputers.