Is schizophrenic symptomatology independent of the phase of the illness?
The difference in symptomatology between the acute and post-acute phase of schizophrenia was examined in the present study using prospective and longitudinal assessment of 86 newly admitted schizophrenic patients. In the acute phase of illness, four symptom components emerged (negative symptoms, excited, delusional/hallucinatory, and thought disorder) and three components were evident (negative symptoms, mixed symptoms, and thought disorder) in the post-acute phase. The negative component in the post-acute phase had the same composition as that in the acute phase. The composition of thought disorder barely persisted over the phase of illness. These findings suggest that the negative symptom component is stable while the difference in the phase of illness has some effects on the symptom structure of schizophrenia.
Nakaya
M
M
Department of Psychiatry, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Tochigi, Japan.
Suwa
H
H
Komahashi
T
T
Ohmori
K
K
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology