Forum – the Pros and Cons of including Cognitive Impairment in the Diagnostic Criteria for Schizophrenia

Should cognitive impairment be included 22 in the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia? The added value of including cognitive 36 impairment in the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia S. GALDERISI Inclusion of cognitive impairment in the DSM 37 diagnosis of schizophrenia: if not now, when? The WPA is an association of national psychiatric societies aimed to increase knowledge and skills necessary for work in the field of mental health and the care for the mentally ill. Its member societies are presently 135, spanning 118 different countries and representing more than 180,000 psychiatrists. The WPA organizes the World Congress of Psychiatry every three years. It also organizes international and regional congresses and meetings, and thematic conferences. It has 65 scientific sections, aimed to disseminate information and promote collaborative work in specific domains of psychiatry. It has produced several educational programmes and series of books. It has developed ethical guidelines for psychiatric practice, including the Madrid Declaration (1996). Further information on the WPA can be found on the web-site www.wpanet.org. World Psychiatry is the official journal of the World Psychiatric Association. It is published in three issues per year and is sent free of charge to psychiatrists whose names and addresses are provided by WPA member societies and sections. Research Reports containing unpublished data are welcome for submission to the journal. They should be subdivided into four sections (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). References should be numbered consecutively in the text and listed at the end according to the following style: 1. Bathe KJ, Wilson EL. Solution methods for eigenvalue problems in structural mechanics. Clinical complexity is emerging as a pointed indicator of the conceptual and empirical richness of psychiatry and general medicine and of the intricate challenges faced by our field. This complexity needs to be appraised, understood and formulated in attention to its various aspects and levels in order to inform adequately the development of crucial clinical tools such as an effective diagnostic model. A broad model relevant to this concern is being outlined under the term of person-centered integrative diagnosis (PID) (1,2). Clinical complexity is a protean term encompassing multiple levels and domains. Illustratively, a prominent concern in health care involves multiplicity of disorders and conditions experienced by a person along with their cross-sectional and longitudinal contexts. Also relevant are the diversity of severity levels and courses of clinical conditions. Financial-related complexity includes case-mix definitions and their implications for reimbursement. Further noteworthy …