Psychiatric diagnosis by operational and phenomenological psychopathology models: a parallel between models through a case analysis

Introduction: Operational psychopathology and its use as diagnostic tool promoted by ICD and DSM unified psychiatric language, and also achieve some success in diagnosis confiability between psychiatrists. However, its hegemony lead to an impairment in psychopathological examination abilities by psychopathologists and reduced teaching of alternative models of psychopathology. This study aims to show phenomenological contributions to psychic examination. Methods: A clinical case has been evaluated by both operational and phenomenological models, allowing reader to follow diagnostic reasoning and conclusion by different standards. Discussion: Operational criteria resulted in generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) and phenomenological diagnosis lead to schizophrenia, an illness with more reserved prognosis and diverse treatment when compared to GAD.