diagnostic practice. It is expected that as  our understanding of basic disease mechanisms
based on pathophysiology, neurocircuitry, ge ne-environment interactions, and laboratory
tests increases, approaches that integrate both objective and subjective patient data will be
developed to supplement and enhance the accuracy of the diagnostic process.
Cross-cutting symptom measures modeled on general medicine’s review of systems can
serve as an approach for reviewing critical psychopathological domains. The general med-
ical review of systems is crucial to detecting subtle changes in different organ systems that
can facilitate diagnosis and treatment. A simi lar review of various mental functions can
aid in a more comprehensive mental status assessment by drawing attention to symptoms
that may not fit neatly into the diagnostic cr iteria suggested by the individual’s presenting
symptoms, but may nonetheless be important to the individual’s care. The cross-cutting
measures have two levels: Level 1 questions ar e a brief survey of 13 symptom domains for
adult patients and 12 domains for child and ad olescent patients. Level 2 questions provide
a more in-depth assessment of certain domains. These measures were developed to be
administered both at initial interview and ov er time to track the patient’s symptom status
and response to treatment.
Severity measures  are disorder-specific, corresponding closely to the criteria that consti-
tute the disorder definition. They may be ad ministered to individuals who have received
a diagnosis or who have a clinically signific ant syndrome that falls short of meeting full
criteria for a diagnosis. Some of the assess ments are self-completed by the individual,
while others require a clinician to complete . As with the cross-cutting symptom measures,
these measures were developed to be administered both at initial interview and over time
to track the severity of the individual’s disorder and response to treatment.