No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 April 2020
The prognostic significance of an index episode of affective disorder with delusions was assessed in a longitudinal study of a cohort of adolescent psychiatric inpatients (n = 43). Part I of a study has been reported in a previous article. Initial assessmentdata (anamnestic variables, clinical assessment) did not discriminate between onset of affective disorder and schizophrenia. Part II of the study provides a longitudinal perspective of the cohort's diagnostic and life adjustment: diagnoses of schizophrenia increased, schizophreniform disorders disappeared, affective disorders were stable and a schizo-affective category emerged. Patients in the schizophrenic category had severely impaired life adjustment, while the level of functioning in unipolar and bipolar patients was consistently satisfactory. Compared to the initial diagnosis, the cohort showed a tendency to develop into schizophrenia. It is too early to affirm that every adolescent with delusional symptoms at onset will later develop schizophrenia, however, this risk appears real.
Comments
No Comments have been published for this article.