Research Diagnostic Criteria

The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) are a collection of psychiatric diagnostic criteria published in late 1970s. As psychiatric diagnoses widely varied especially between the USA and Europe, the purpose of the criteria were allow diagnoses to be consistent in psychiatric research. Some of the criteria were based on the earlier Feighner Criteria, although many new disorders were included. The RDC is important in the history of psychiatric diagnostic criteria as the DSM-III was based on many of the RDC descriptions.