Using life history calendars to improve measurement of lifetime experience with mental disorders.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Retrospective reports of lifetime experience with mental disorders greatly underestimate the actual experiences of disorder because recall error biases reporting of earlier life symptoms downward. This fundamental obstacle to accurate reporting has many adverse consequences for the study and treatment of mental disorders. Better tools for accurate retrospective reporting of mental disorder symptoms have the potential for broad scientific benefits.

Methods

We designed a life history calendar (LHC) to support this task, and randomized more than 1000 individuals to each arm of a retrospective diagnostic interview with and without the LHC. We also conducted a careful validation with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

SUBMITTER: Axinn WG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6739186 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature