Diagnostic pattern for neuroses in China, Japan, and the United States.

To investigate the diagnostic patterns for neuroses in China, Japan, and the United States, the authors showed videotapes and brief written case histories of six Chinese patients to psychiatrists and psychiatrists-in-training in Beijing, Tokyo, and Honolulu. In cases with a well-distinguished clinical picture the diagnoses were congruent in the three countries. Diagnostic disagreement occurred in cases with symptoms of decline in mental function, which were overwhelmingly diagnosed as neurasthenia by the Chinese clinicians, and cases with situational stress, which were diagnosed as adjustment reaction by the Americans. This illustrates that different professional concepts and classification systems are used in different countries. (Am J Psychiatry 143:1010-1014, 1986)