>"very broad because they are necessary as tools"
>"diagnostic criteria are meant to be sufficient criteria for diagnosing a disorder"
Aren't these equivalent ideas? I don't think the parent comment was meant to be critical so much as it was to make an assessment. An overall rate of 80% accurate for a questionnaire instrument seems like a fine tool.
I read the comment as implying that they were overly broad and so should not be applied to the larger population outside of a professionals supervision.
My counter-argument was that they were properly narrow and could indeed be applied to the general population, though this would not provide definitive diagnoses only prevalence information.
I read the OP as saying that these statistics were not representative of the actual underlying mental health phenomena. I believe and asserted that they are.
Aren't these equivalent ideas? I don't think the parent comment was meant to be critical so much as it was to make an assessment. An overall rate of 80% accurate for a questionnaire instrument seems like a fine tool.