From the Midtown Manhattan Study to the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study: the advent of mechanical objectivity in psychiatry

Abstract

In this paper I compare the methodology of two of the most famous epidemiological studies: The Midtown Manhattan Study (1952–60) and the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study (1980–5). At first sight, there are few features that distinguish them; both were studies of large samples of the general population; they both used highly sophisticated methods of data analysis and standardized instruments; and they involved interviewers who were not professional clinicians. However, if we carefully compare the protocols that define how ‘clinical’ information is collected, we realize that some important changes in methodology were not only due to practical necessities, but also involved an important transformation in the role of the interviewer and the skills traditionally associated with the clinician.