title: Subtyping schizophrenia: A comparison of positive/negative and system-specific approaches.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder. Over the years, different approaches have been proposed to approach this heterogeneity by categorizing symptom patterns. The study aimed to compare positive/negative and system-specific approaches to subtyping.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Bern Psychopathology Scale (BPS), which consists of subscales for three domains (language, affect and motor behavior) that are hypothesized to be related to specific brain circuits, to assess cross-sectional psychopathological characteristics in a sample of 100 inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. We then categorized participants into positive/negative and system-specific subgroups to allow comparisons of the two approaches.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses revealed correlations between the PANSS positive subscore and the BPS affective subscore (r=.446, p<.001) and between the PANSS negative subscore and the BPS motor behavior subscore (r=.227, p=.023). As regards the positive and negative subtype, more participants were classified as positive in the language-dominant subtype (30.3%) and affect-dominant subtype (30.3%), whereas more were classified as negative in the motor behavior-dominant subtype (44.4%). However, most patients met the criteria for the mixed subtype.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the positive/negative and system-specific approaches can be regarded as complementary. Future studies should examine both approaches in a longitudinal assessment of psychopathological symptoms and link them with qualitative-phenomenological approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: fabian.lang@bkh-guenzburg.de.
authors.forename: F U
authors.initials: FU
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stegmayer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anderson-Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jäger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D063189:Symptom Assessment