[Symptom checklist S-III].

AIM Symptom checklists enable clinicians and researchers to quickly estimate the probability of neurotic disorder presence. To pursue this goal, they should include a possibly limited number of items, describing symptoms most prevalent in the disordered population. Fluctuations in that prevalence force researchers to prepare new variants of checklists every few years, therefore the next (current) version of the checklist "S" for screening has been prepared. METHOD The Symptom checklist S-III includes items regarding occurrence and intensity of 82 symptoms, chosen according to their highest prevalence in 1872 patients diagnosed before admission to psychotherapy in the years 2004-2008, because of neurotic disorders. There is the "truthfulness scale" included in the checklist, which enables an estimation of reliability of answers. Norms are calculated in the groups of 301 non-patients and 508 patients before admission to psychotherapy in 2009-2010. RESULTS The cutoff point between Global Symptom Levels (OWK) in the nonclinical population and patients before admission to psychotherapy is estimated, and the value of 146 points for both men and women is suggested. CONCLUSIONS Symptom checklist S-III has satisfactory psychometric properties and can be applied in a quick diagnosis of neurotic disorders occurrence.