Abstract
The purpose of psychiatric classification is to be a useful instrument for diagnostics and therapy. The current operational classification is perceived as less than perfect.
The specificity of characteristic symptoms for psychiatric diagnoses is usually low. Etiological factors are shared by multiple diagnoses.
The neurobiological data for most diagnoses are lacking. The prevalence of psychotic symptoms in general population exceeds the prevalence of clinical psychotic categories.
This supports dimensional alternative for classification. The current diagnostic units do not reflect the relationship between diagnosis, etiology and treatment response.
The future may bring a change in the way we think of a diagnostic system. The basis for a clinically useful hybrid (categorial-dimensional) diagnostic classification may be provided by psychopathological phenomena, the functional significance and the dimensional characteristics of which will be understood.