The formal diagnosis of anorexia nervosa is defined by this set of symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

The formal diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, or dissocial personality disorder, rests on these symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

Anxiety symptoms affect over 13% of the adult population. This section provides descriptions of the symptoms employed by psychiatrists as diagnostic criteria for panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other anxiety disorders.

The formal diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome rests on these symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

The formal diagnosis of atypical autism rests on these symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Also see the separate page on ICD criteria for Childhood Autism.

The formal diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder, or anxious personality disorder, rests on these symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

Basic Science: Treatment, Therapy and Diagnostic Criteria for Mental Disorders

Mental Disorders and Symptoms Guide »

By Dr Greg Mulhauser, Managing Editor

The notion of a ‘mental disorder’ rests upon a particular model of so-called ‘normal’ functioning and observable deviations from that norm; this model fits only awkwardly with some approaches to therapy. Perhaps even more significantly, unlike the usual notion of ‘diagnosis’ common to Western medicine, however, psychiatry’s diagnostic categories of mental disorders are defined in terms of lists of symptoms. Scientifically, they are nothing at all like most medical diagnoses.