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The quantitative assessment of symptoms in psychiatry was preceded by the emergence of quantitative psychology. Society’s needs in terms of the evaluation of psychotropic medications as a response to medical and economic needs have largely fostered the development of such methodologies. Hetero-evaluation or self-evaluation by the patients themselves rely on a range of detailed instruments such as behavior scales, visual analogical scales, and questionnaires, which in theory should respect the methodological values of sensitivity, faithfulness and validity that affect their use. The various instruments used in current practice are considered in the context of general psychopathology and in relation to various pathologies: depressive, anxious, or psychotic. The conditions for the use of these quantitative instruments are described, as well as their application in the various therapeutic domains of medications or cognitive-behavioral therapies. The quantitative assessment of symptoms has important consequences for psychopathology. The subjective and qualitative aspects of the psyche are ignored and we are faced with a veritable denial of the psyche in international academic psychiatry.