Psychopathological dimensions in schizophrenia.
To test underlying latent syndromes within schizophrenic syndromes assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), a sample of 100 DSM-III-R schizophrenia patients was obtained through a semistructured interview for schizophrenia. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the underlying symptomatological dimensions. The positive and negative construct was not confirmed by this study. The three- and four-dimension models obtained higher goodness of fit than the one- or two-dimension models. Models composed of three or four dimensions shared positive and negative syndromes, in addition to "disorder of relating" and/or "disorganization" dimensions. The disorder of relating dimension of PANSS was composed of emotional withdrawal and passive/apathetic social withdrawal. The disorganization dimension comprised two symptoms of PANSS (conceptual disorganization and poor attention) and an item not included in the PANSS: inappropriate affect. It is suggested that a schedule for the assessment of this item be added to the PANSS.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010343:Patient Admission; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011599:Psychopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology