(The Guardian) – Diagnostic interviews seen as ‘gold standard’ vary in reliability from condition to condition, study says

Even though evidence on the reliability of these interviews has long been mixed, “they continue to be widely viewed as the best available approach, possibly due to the lack of better alternatives,” Duncan said. The review study brings together evidence from studies on “test-retest reliability” of diagnostic interviews reviewed from February 2024 to September 2025.

The study’s authors used Cohen’s kappa coefficient to estimate how reliable diagnostic interviews were for different mental health conditions; this allowed them to see how often patients would receive the same diagnosis when given the same diagnostic interview twice, while accounting for the fact that sometimes this can happen by luck. (Read More)