Symptom segregation in chronic schizophrenia: the significance of thought disorder

The failure of the schizophrenia concept and the argument for its replacement by hebephrenia: applying the medical model for disease recognition

“…Such sorting is mostly ignored in clinical practice and research studies. Many patients with manic depression are paranoid, catatonic, and behaviourally disorganized, but few exhibit the signs of emotional blunting, avolition, and formal thought disorder, the features that better define a syndrome and prognosis (7–12).…”

“…The positive–negative symptom dichotomy also yields muddled results (11–13). Positive and negative features are frequently mixed.…”

Psychopathological dimensions in schizophrenia: a correlational approach to items of the SANS and SAPS

“…x Positive Symptoms Andreasen, 1984 and some Ž using other psychometric scales Liddle, 1987;Kay and Sevy, 1990;Sarai and Matsunaga, 1993; . Lindenmayer et al, 1995b indicated that, in contrast to the conventional positive and negative syndromes, an independent third dimension of thought disorder or disorganization syndrome may be an underlying form of symptomatology in schizophrenia.…”

“…lates if the composite of scale items is segregated and grouped inappropriately. Some researchers employed a global or subscale rating approach ŽArndt et al, 1991;Sarai and Matsunaga, 1993; . Klimidis et al, 1993 and others applied an ap-Ž proach to individual items Liddle, 1987;Minas et al, 1992Minas et al, , 1994Malla et al, 1993;Stuart et al, .…”

“…However, questions have been raised as to the validity of their internal construct and subgroup composi-Ž tion Minas et al, 1992Minas et al, , 1994De Leon et al, 1993;Klimidis et al, 1993;Malla et al, 1993; . Sarai and Matsunaga, 1993 . Given this scenario, the strategy of an item-level approach for depicting the more homogenous clusters of psychopathology in schizophrenia appears important.…”