Diagnosis and Assessment Methods

AIMS Scale
http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/aims.html
This site contains a standard approach, the AIMS, for the clinical assessment of patients who may have involuntary movement disorders (from antipsychotic medications) and may have tardive dyskinesia.

Borderline Personality Disorder

http://www.palace.net/~llama/psych/diag.html#bpd
This is part of a self-help web site regarding self-injury.   It is an excellent source for various diagnostic criteria, including Linehan, Kernberg, Gunderson, DSM-4 and the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines.
 

http://www.mhsanctuary.com/borderline/
This is a useful place to find links and other information about this disorder.

Comprehensive Information on Psychiatric Disorders
http://www.mentalhealth.com/p20.html
This site offers a comprehensive list of psychiatric disorders. Clicking on each one of them results in a very useful page with links for diagnosis, treatment, research, personal accounts, magazine articles, and more. Most disorders also include an on-line interview for diagnostic screening (for self-assessment or as an aid for a clinician).

Conducting a Productive Diagnostic Interview
http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/clinical/interview.htm
This excerpt from a classic textbook for medical students offers excellent advice to any clinical student or professional for conducting a productive diagnostic interview. However, it does not provide much information related to establishing trust, rapport, and (in a first interview) helping the client to understand what treatment is about. Written in 1969, there is also evidence of gender bias.

DSM-4 Diagnoses
http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/dsm4a.html
This site is a simple listing of DSM-4 diagnoses and codes.

Insomnia and Sleep Disorders
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/498_sleep.html
This Federal Drug Admin site is a good overview of sleep problems and solutions

Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults
http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/treatg/pg/pg_adult.cfm
This is a comprehensive set of practice guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) regarding the essential elements of a comprehensive evaluation of adults. It includes, for example, discussion of a complete mental status examination.