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Are There More Than Two Syndromes in Schizophrenia?

A Critique of the Positive-Negative Dichotomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Victor Peralta ,
Jose De Leon  and
Manuel J. Cuesta
Victor Peralta
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Unit of the “Virgen del Camino” Hospital, Pamplona, Spain
Jose De Leon*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Unit of the “Virgen del Camino” Hospital, Pamplona, Spain
Manuel J. Cuesta
Affiliation:
Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI, 2300 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

A sample of 115 DSM–III–R schizophrenics was studied by means of the SANS and SAPS. A factor analysis from the nine subscales and two symptoms (inappropriate affect and poverty of content) and a review of the previous factor analyses suggest that schizophrenic symptoms cannot be appropriately classified into positive and negative syndromes. The low internal consistency of the SAPS suggests that the positive symptoms are not a homogeneous syndrome. Our results fit better with Liddle's model of three syndromes (negative, delusion-hallucination and disorganisation syndromes). It is argued that we are far from a valid classification of schizophrenic symptoms and the positive-negative dichotomy appears to be an oversimplification.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 335 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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