Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:43:35.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Symptoms of Chronic Schizophrenia

A Re-examination of the Positive-Negative Dichotomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter F. Liddle*
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, and Academic Unit, Horton Hospital, Long Grove Road, Epsom, Surrey KT19 8PZ

Extract

The relationships between symptoms in 40 schizophrenic patients, selected for persistence of symptoms, were examined. The symptoms segregated into three syndromes: psychomotor poverty (poverty of speech, lack of spontaneous movement and various aspects of blunting of affect): disorganisation (inappropriate affect, poverty of content of speech, and disturbances of the form of thought): and reality distortion (particular types of delusions and hallucinations). Both the psychomotor poverty and disorganisation syndromes were associated with social and occupational impairment; in particular, the psychomotor poverty syndrome was associated with impairment of personal relationships, and the disorganisation syndrome with poor self-care and impersistence at work.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.)(DSM-III). Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1982) Negative symptoms in schizophrenia; definition and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 784788.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1983) Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH). Iowa City: The University of Iowa College of Medicine.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. & Olsen, S. (1982) Negative v. positive schizophrenia: definition and validation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 789794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, E. (1911) Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias (trans. 1950 by Zinklin, J. New York: International Universities Press).Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. (1980a) Molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process? British Medical Journal, 280, 19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crow, T. J. (1980b) Positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms and the role of dopamine. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 383386.Google Scholar
Davis, J. M. (1976) Comparative doses and costs of antipsychotic medication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 858861.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrow, M., Silverstein, M. & Marengo, J. (1983) Disordered thinking: does it identify nuclear schizophrenia? Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 765771.Google Scholar
Huber, G. (1957) Pneumoencephalographische und Psychopathologische Bilder bei Endogen Psychosen. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, G., Gross, G. & Schuttler, R. (1975) A long term follow-up of schizophrenia: psychiatric course of illness and prognosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 52, 4957.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. R., Stevens, M., Kreel, L. & Husband, J. (1978) The dementia of dementia praecox. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 57, 305324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewine, R. R. J., Fogg, L. & Meltzer, H. Y. (1983) Assessment of negative and positive symptoms in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 9, 368376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nie, N. H., Hull, N. C., Jenkins, J. G., Steinbrenner, K. & Bent, D. H. (1975) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Pogue-Geile, M. F. & Harrow, M. (1984) Negative and positive symptoms in schizophrenia and depression: a follow-up. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 10, 331387.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1961) A simple and reliable sub-classification of chronic schizophrenia. Journal Mental Science, 107, 862875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1978) Schizophrenia: Towards a New Synthesis. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. & Brown, G. W. (1970) Institutionalization and Schizophrenia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The measurement and classification of psychiatric symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Venables, P. H. (1957) A short scale for rating “activity-withdrawal” in schizophrenics. Journal of Mental Science, 103, 197199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, J. K. & Wing, J. K. (1962) Level of arousal and subclassification of schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 7, 114119.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.