This article argues that the operational-pragmatic search for greater diagnostic reliability must consider the role played by language in psychopathological conceptualization. When conceptualizing psychopathological symptoms, the emphasis must shift from experience to reporting, which requires explicitly considering a semantics - that is, a theory of meaning - only presupposed. This shift in emphasis influences our understanding of the nature of the psychopathological symptom. In conclusion, stipulating sufficiency criteria for psychopathological diagnosis favors an increase in reliability in detriment of the clinical consideration of borderline cases, formally narrowing the clinical approach to psychopathology based on pragmatic operationalism.
Keywords:
Diagnostic reliability; language; borderline case; symptom