Schizoaffective disorder: a dimensional approach.
The current categorical approach has not proved successful in resolving the problem of classifying patients with both affective and schizophrenic features. A dimensional approach is suggested; postulating two interacting factors; "dissociotaxia", a neurointegrative abnormality; and "hyperactivation", an abnormality in activation regulation. The latter factor can convert dissociotaxia to associative dyscontrol and produce mixed schizoaffective features. Clinical-phenomenological, prognostic, genetic-familial, treatment response and biological evidence is reconsidered from this standpoint; and the preferability of the dimensional approach is suggested, both for understanding the underlying psychopathology, and for constructing a different classification system, extensible to other areas of psychiatry.
Yasamy
M T
MT
D006801:Humans; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000145:classification; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification