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This paper describes the introduction of the DSM-III system in the diagnostic procedure of all patients visiting a community mental health center for the first time. The aim was to provide a basis on which to evaluate the center's work by describing the patients in a diagnostic language common to all members of the psychiatric team. To test reliability, the staff's diagnostic evaluations and those of the senior psychiatrist were compared. The latter's evaluations were made from the patient's records. The results suggest a consistency in the characteristics in the patient groups over the 2-year period studied with regard to age, sex, civil status, socio-economic category, professional status, and initiator of the original referral. The same applies to the distribution of the diagnostic categories. Most of the patients received "less severe" - that is, so-called group-I diagnoses - during both years. There is therefore reason to assume that the groups of patients in this study are representative of the groups of persons within the catchment area who require the care of a community mental health center. This type of knowledge may be seen as necessary when discussing questions of care priorities and development. The results also suggest that the patients are selectively allocated to the various categories of staff by the senior psychiatrist. This may enhance the possibility of providing the patients with adequate care. On the other hand, there was little agreement between the senior psychiatrist and the staff with regard to diagnoses, and a risk of "profession-specific" bias in diagnostic evaluation may not be excluded. The introduction of the DSM-III system into general use requires continual teaching inputs and may thus come into conflict with other educational needs. In spite of this, we think that staff knowledge of such a diagnostic system may be of help to the mental health center when designing follow-up procedures.