Psychopathology — Categorical Screening and Functional Impact
Psychopathology Instruments
PHQ-9, GAD-7, OCI-R, the Wisconsin Schizotypy scales, PDSM, and additional instruments for categorical screening.
1. Schizoid–Avoidant Discrimination
The distinction between schizoid and avoidant presentations is one of the most clinically consequential discriminations in personality disorder work. Both present with social withdrawal; the mechanism differs. The avoidant person wants connection but fears rejection (high anxiety, approach-avoidance conflict). The schizoid person does not experience the motivational pull toward connection (low N2B, low PANAS-PA).
Instruments: Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (RSAS) discriminates schizoid withdrawal from anxious avoidance. The Wisconsin Schizotypy scales capture schizotypal features that may accompany schizoid presentations. N2B indexes motivational baseline.
2. Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum — OCI-R
The OCI-R (Foa et al., 2002) is an 18-item self-report measure of OCD symptom severity with six subscales: Washing, Obsessing, Hoarding, Ordering, Checking, Neutralizing. A total score ≥21 has acceptable sensitivity and specificity against structured diagnostic interview. The subscale profile maps onto the symptom heterogeneity of OCD.
3. Schizotypal Features — Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales
The Wisconsin Schizotypy scales (Chapman and colleagues) assess schizotypy as a set of dimensional traits: magical ideation, perceptual aberration, and social anhedonia, with an infrequency index to flag careless or non-credible responding. They remain among the most extensively validated self-report measures of psychosis-proneness, capturing both the positive (cognitive-perceptual) and negative (anhedonic-interpersonal) facets of the schizotypy construct.
4. Panic and Dissociation
The Panic Disorder Symptom Measure (PDSM) covers panic attack frequency, distress, anticipatory anxiety, agoraphobic fear, situational avoidance, and impairment. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II) screens for dissociative phenomena across a 0–100 format.
5. Substance Use
AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and DAST-10 (Drug Abuse Screening Test) provide brief validated screens for alcohol and substance use disorder severity. Both are widely used as intake screeners in clinical and research settings.
6. Neurodevelopmental: ADHD
Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) screen for current ADHD symptoms and retrospective childhood ADHD presentation, respectively. The ASRS part A (6 items) has sensitivity .68 and specificity .99 for a current ADHD diagnosis. The WURS operationalizes the developmental continuity criterion central to adult ADHD diagnosis.
7. Mood and Anxiety Screening
The PHQ-9 (depression) and GAD-7 (generalized anxiety) are the most widely used brief screeners in clinical and primary-care settings, each with extensively replicated cutoff bands. Within this framework they anchor the mood and anxiety spectrum, alongside broader distress measures such as the DASS-21 and well-being indices such as the WHO-5.