APA Dictionary of Psychology

a structured interview used to identify and describe in detail a range of psychopathological symptoms so as to make standardized and reliable diagnoses in adults. The SADS includes a progression of questions and criteria and provides for the rating of symptom severity, both for lifetime occurrence and most recent or current occurrence, using a 0 to 4, 0 to 6, or 0 to 7 scale. A version of the SADS for use with children and adolescents, the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS), is also available. [originally developed in 1978 by U.S. psychiatrist Robert L. Spitzer (1932–  ) and U.S. clinical psychologist Jean Endicott (1936–  )]