CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 112Mental Health and PsychiatryPersonality Disorders and PsychopathologyPsychology and Mental Health

The adjustment disorders: the conundrums of the diagnoses

Strain, James J., Diefenbacher, Albert·2008·Comprehensive Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2007.10.002
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This article discusses the conundrums and the dilemmas of the conceptual framework of the diagnoses of the adjustment disorders (ADs). The psychiatric diagnoses that arise between normal behavior and the major psychiatric morbidities constitute the problematic subthreshold disorders. These subthreshold entities are also juxtaposed between problem-level diagnoses and more clearly defined major disorders. They present important taxonomic and diagnostic dilemmas in that they are often poorly defined, overlap with other diagnostic groupings, and have indefinite symptomatology. ADs were designed as a "wild card" to allow the coding of a psychiatric "diagnosis" for work done by psychiatrists and other mental health care specialists when the patient's symptoms do not reach the criterion of a major mental disorder. It is therefore not surprising that issues of reliability and validity prevail. The issues of diagnostic rigor and clinical utility seem at odds for the AD. Clinicians need a wild card, and field studies need to use reliable and valid concepts of AD and assessments instruments to determine more exact specification of the parameters of the diagnosis. Finally, appropriate and timely treatment is essential for patients with AD so that their symptoms do not worsen; their important relationships are not further impaired; or their capacity to work, study, or be active in their essential interpersonal pursuits is not compromised.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.comppsych.2007.10.002

Cites

67 of 67 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Adjustment disorder is poorly delineated in both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10.

    “First, adjustment disorder is poorly delineated in both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. 4”

    From Adjustment disorder: Implications for ICD-11 and DSM-5 (2012) · cites this paper as [4]

  • Differentiation of adjustment disorder from other psychiatric disorders such as major depression and generalised anxiety is a problem because the criteria are underdeveloped and rudimentary.

    “The differentiation from other psychiatric disorders such as major depression and generalised anxiety is a further problem since the criteria are underdeveloped and rudimentary.”

    From Adjustment disorder: Implications for ICD-11 and DSM-5 (2012) · cites this paper as [4]

  • ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR state that the diagnosis of adjustment disorder cannot be made when the symptom threshold for another condition is reached.

    “Instead, ICD-10 4 and DSM-IV-TR 5 state that the diagnosis cannot be made when the symptom threshold for another condition is reached.”

    From Adjustment disorder: Implications for ICD-11 and DSM-5 (2012) · cites this paper as [4]

  • The boundary between adjustment disorder and normal adaptive stress is not addressed in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10.

    “The boundary between adjustment disorder and normal adaptive stress is not addressed”

    From Adjustment disorder: Implications for ICD-11 and DSM-5 (2012) · cites this paper as [4]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 69 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Strain, J. J., & Diefenbacher, A.
Affiliations
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • Evangelisches Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge (DE)
Corresponding author
Strain, James J.
Venue
Comprehensive Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-03
Volume
49
Issue
2
Pages
121-130
ISSN
0010-440X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.comppsych.2007.10.002
OpenAlex
W2124177850
Cited by
112
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
FWCI
24.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Comprehensive Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
Keywords
adjustment disorder, psychiatric diagnosis, diagnostic validity, diagnostic reliability, normal behavior, severe mental illness
MeSH terms
Adjustment Disorders, Drug Therapy, Humans, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Referral and Consultation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review