Volume 56, Issue 7
Research Report
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Fifty years of psychiatric nomenclature: Reflections on the 1943 War Department Technical Bulletin, Medical 203

Arthur C. Houts

Corresponding Author

University of Memphis

Arthur C. Houts, Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Campus Box 526400, Memphis, Tennessee 38152–6400, e‐mail ahouts@cc.memphis.eduSearch for more papers by this author

Abstract

War Department Technical Bulletin, Medical 203 is presented in historical context as the first psychodynamic nomenclature. The history of Medical 203 is presented to show how Medical 203 was adapted to become DSM‐I. Medical 203 then is compared and contrasted to DSM‐IV to illustrate how changes in the modern DSMs have led to an 800% increase in the number of psychiatric diagnoses over the last half century. The role of critical history is emphasized in evaluating those changes and in speculating about the next 50 years of psychiatric nomenclature. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 56: 935–967, 2000.

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