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The mental health provider will conduct an in-depth interview with the patient and/or the family which will include issues such as:

• Careful assessment of mental status of the patient
• Medical history
• Developmental and social history
• Neurological or neuropsychological examination
• Review of any prior psychological assessments
• Signs of depression or substance abuse
• Suicidal risk

A definitive diagnosis of schizophrenia is based on two major diagnostic systems which define symptoms and grade the level of impairment based on information the physician has obtained at the interview, namely:

• Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)

Each of these publications works in a similar fashion and the level of agreement between them is high.

The criteria of the American Psychiatric Association for the diagnosis of schizophrenia include:

• Presence of two of the following characteristic symptoms for a significant portion of time during a one-month period: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, or negative symptoms (such as flat affect)
• Social or occupational dysfunction
• Continual signs of these disturbances for at least 6 months
• Mood disorders with psychotic features have been ruled out
• Disturbances are not due to substance abuse, medication, or another medical condition