[Diagnoses in the Camberwell-register, a cumulative psychiatric register of cases].

The reported investigation indicates that the diagnostic labels applied to mentally ill patients are changed frequently. Of a sample of 100 such patients, 20 received a second diagnosis, differing from the initial one, within 4 weeks, while within 2 years the diagnostic category had been changed for over half the cases. How far these changes reflect the frequency with which psychiatric conditions succeed one another, and how far the extent to which different psychiatrists apply different names to the same clinical picture, remains an open question. It was further established that even a model psychiatric case register such as the Camberwell Register, which is well organized and has highly-experienced staff, could not monitor all diagnostic changes.