The authors field-tested proposed criteria for diagnoses of psychoactive substance use disorders in the revision of DSM-III (DSM-III-R) and compared them with DSM-III criteria in a treated group of 83 patients. They found a high level of agreement between the diagnostic systems in rates of diagnosis and in the individuals receiving the diagnosis. The greatest cross-system agreement occurred when the minimum number of symptoms required to make the DSM-III-R diagnosis was set at three. Discrepant diagnoses between systems related to removal of social consequences as a requirement for the DSM-III-R diagnoses, less emphasis on physiological tolerance in DSM-III-R, and disagreement in subjects with mild symptoms.