Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia

The Schedule for affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) is a collection of psychiatric diagnostic criteria and symptom rating scales published in 1978. There are three versions the schedule, the regular SADS, the lifetime version (SADS-L) and a version for measuring change in symptomology (SADS-C). Although largely replaced by diagnostic criteria such as DSM-IV, and specific mood rating scales, SADS is still used in some research papers today.

Diagnoses covered
The diagnoses covered by the interview include Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety disorders and a limited number of other diagnoses.

Relationship with the Research Diagnostic Criteria
The Schedule for affective Disorders and Schizophrenia was developed by the same group of rearchers as the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). While the RDC is a list of diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders, the SADS interview allows diagnoses based on RDC criteria to be made, and also rates subject's symptoms and level of functioning.