The Positive: Negative Dichotomy in Schizophrenia

1990 ◽  
Vol 157 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Mortimer ◽  
C. E. Lund ◽  
P. J. McKenna
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Motor Disorder ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Symptom Scores ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

Two studies are reported. In the first, of 62 schizophrenic patients, no correlation between negative symptom scores (rated blindly) and any measure of positive symptoms was found. This independence was confirmed by factor and cluster analyses, which left the question of a third ‘disorganisation’ class of schizophrenic symptoms open. In the second study, of 80 patients, formal thought disorder separated unequivocally into ‘positive formal thought disorder’ and ‘alogia’ syndromes on the basis of correlations with positive and negative symptoms. Catatonic motor disorder also showed evidence of a corresponding positive: negative division, although this only emerged when severity or chronicity of illness was controlled for. Cognitive impairment showed a broad range of affiliations and its particular correlation with negative symptoms was perhaps artefactual.

Tardive Dyskinesia and Type II Schizophrenia

1992 ◽  
Vol 160 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. B. Davis ◽  
Milind Borde ◽  
L. N. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenia ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Male Patients

Cognitive impairment, negative and positive symptoms, primitive release reflexes, and age/temporal disorientation were assessed in 20 male patients meeting the DSM–III–R criteria for chronic schizophrenia and Schooler & Kane's criteria for TD. The control group comprised 20 age-matched male chronic schizophrenic patients without TD. Significant associations were found between TD, cognitive impairment, some negative symptoms, and formal thought disorder. These associations were independent of other illness and treatment variables. The severity of TD correlated significantly with that of cognitive impairment.

Negative Symptoms at Discharge and Outcome in Schizophrenia

1995 ◽  
Vol 166 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai-Gwo Hwu ◽  
Happy Tan ◽  
Chu-Chang Chen ◽  
Ling-Ling Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Outcome ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Symptom Score ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Positive Symptom ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Scores ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

BackgroundThe clinical significance in schizophrenia of positive and negative symptoms at discharge was assessed.MethodOf schizophrenic patients fulfilling DSM–III criteria, 113 were recruited for this study. Personal, social and psychopathological data were collected and all cases were followed up at one and two years after discharge.ResultsThe presence of positive symptoms (64 cases), without concomitant negative symptoms, did not predict the follow-up social function and positive symptom score. Conversely, the presence of negative symptoms (31 cases) predicted worse social functioning (P < 0.05 to P < 0.005) and higher positive symptom scores (P < 0.01) at follow-up using MANOVA. Eighteen cases (15.9%) had neither positive nor negative symptoms and had the best clinical outcome.ConclusionsNegative, but not positive, symptoms assessed at discharge are an important predictor of poor outcome. In addition, negative symptoms may themselves expose a biological vulnerability to the presence of positive symptoms.

Positive and Negative Symptoms in Psychiatry

1986 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Trimble
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Positive Symptom ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Market Research Company ◽  
Research Company ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

The terms positive and negative symptoms have slipped into the language of contemporary psychiatry with comparative ease. It is not uncommon for these expressions to be used with little explanation, both at meeting and in written communications, with the implicit understanding that their meaning is understood and that somehow they are of value to our knowledge of psychopathology. However, that there are no clear guide-lines at present for our use of these terms is shown from a recent survey of psychiatrists' opinions from a market research company (Martin Hamblin Research-Personal Communication). As part of a series of questions asked to many psychiatrists of differing age, geographical location, and status, they were asked about the meaning of these terms, positive and negative symptoms and the proportion of schizophrenic patients having them. Of the categories quoted by Crow (1980–81) as positive symptoms, 68% considered that delusions were positive symptoms, 63% hallucinations, and only 35% thought disorder. In contrast, 18% thought that behaviour disturbance was a positive symptom, a similar figure (15%) being given for passivity feelings. Considerable variation was noted, however, with hallucinations being considered positive by only 33% of London psychiatrists, thought disorder by only 11% of those qualified 16–25 years, and one-quarter of all registrars and psychiatrists from Midland Health Districts considered passivity feelings to fall into this category. Even greater disagreement was recorded for negative symptoms. Thus, the symptom most often associated with this category was apathy, by 52% of respondents. Only 26% considered that withdrawal was a negative symptom, the percentage data for lack of motivation and blunting of affect being 37% and 15% respectively.

The Assessment of Negative and Positive Features in Schizophrenia

1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (S7) ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eve C. Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Normal Function ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Clinical Correlates ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

It has become customary to classify the typical abnormalities of the mental state of schizophrenic patients into positive and negative features, with reference to behavioural excesses and deficits. Positive features are pathological by their presence and negative features represent the loss of some normal function. Positive features are generally considered to include delusions, hallucinations and positive formal thought disorder (Fish, 1962). Some studies (e.g. Johnstone et al, 1978) have also included incongruity of affect under this heading. Negative features include affective flattening, poverty of speech, retardation, apathy, lack of sociability. There is some evidence that the clinical correlates of positive and negative features may not be the same (Owens & Johnstone, 1980). Some workers (Andreasen & Olsen, 1982) but not others (Pogue-Geile & Harrow, 1984) have found that among schizophrenic patients positive and negative symptoms were negatively correlated. Although the nature of the relationship between positive and negative features is not entirely established and may not be simple (Wing, 1978) certain generalisations may be applied: (a)Positive features are characteristic of earlier and negative of later phases of the illness (Pfohl & Winokur, 1982).(b)The effects of drugs upon positive features are greater than those upon negative features. Thus neuroleptics produce more marked improvement (Johnstone et al, 1978; Angrist et al, 1980) and amphetamine more marked exacerbation (Angrist et al, 1980) of positive than of negative features.(c)Positive features have been said to be relatively variable and negative features relatively stable (Ovchinnikov, 1968; Snezhnevsky, 1968).

Do positive symptom and negative symptom subtypes of schizophrenia show qualitative differences in language production?

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidelinde A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Speech Disorder ◽  
Positive Symptom ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenics ◽  
Prominent Symptom ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

SynopsisThe present study examined a prominent symptom subtype conception of the psychopathology of schizophrenia. It analysed the presumed dichotomy between hallucinations, delusions and formal thought disorder as positive symptoms and flattening of affect and poverty of speech as negative symptoms, and tested predictions concerning the nature of the mediating processes of positive and negative symptoms. Four different analyses were applied to the transcripts of speech produced by 9 normals, 10 chronic schizophrenics with only positive symptoms of whom 7 had incoherence of speech, and 9 chronic schizophrenics with only negative symptoms of whom 4 had poverty of speech. The conception of the nature of the mediating processes of positive and negative symptoms was not supported by the results. Further, a clear dichotomy between positive and negative symptom groups was not shown to exist, because positive speech disorder and negative speech disorder did not follow the presupposed dichotomy. Thus, contrary to existing conceptions of speech disorder in schizophrenia, both positive and negative speech disorder are marked by poverty of thought, as measured by the production of fewer and shorter ideas and lower speech variability.

Relationship between Neuroleptic Dose and Positive and Negative Symptoms

1994 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 481-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick B. Johnson ◽  
Lewis A. Opler ◽  
Paul M. Ramirez ◽  
Robert Malgady
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Zero Order ◽  
Standardized Assessments ◽  
Symptom Scores ◽  
Medication Dose ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

The present study explored possible connections between neuroleptic dose and the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Zero-order correlations between medication dose as measured in CPZ equivalent units and standardized assessments of positive (hallucinations, delusions) and negative (blunted affect, poor rapport) symptoms were carried out on 28 hospitalized schizophrenics. While dose was positively related to over-all negative symptom scores as well as specific negative symptoms, no relation was found with positive scores. The discussion focused on the possibility that negative symptoms might represent medication-induced side effects and the need for further research.

Three Syndromes in Chronic Schizophrenia

1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (S7) ◽  
pp. 119-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.F. Liddle ◽  
Thomas R.E. Barnes ◽  
D. Morris ◽  
S. Haque
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Clinical Features ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenia ◽  
Brain Abnormalities ◽  
Brain Abnormality ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

In recent years, exploration of the distinction between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia has provided a fruitful basis for attempts to relate the clinical features of schizophrenia to the accumulating evidence of brain abnormalities in schizophrenic patients. By 1982, there was an extensive body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that negative schizophrenic symptoms, such as poverty of speech and flatness of affect, were associated with substantial brain abnormalities, such as increased ventricular to brain ratio, and extensive cognitive impairment (Crow, 1980; Andreasen & Olsen, 1982). However, at that stage there were several fundamental unanswered questions about the nature of negative symptoms, and their relationship to indices of brain abnormality. This paper presents some findings of a series of studies initiated in 1982 to seek answers to some of these questions.

Are Employment-Interview Skills a Correlate of Subtypes of Schizophrenia?

1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 951-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Charisiou ◽  
Henry J. Jackson ◽  
Gregory J. Boyle ◽  
Philip Burgess ◽  
I. Harry Minas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Employment Interview ◽  
Global Measure ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Symptom Scores ◽  
Verbal Content ◽  
Discharge From Hospital ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

46 inpatients with a DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia were assessed in the week prior to discharge from hospital on measures of positive and negative symptoms and on 12 measures of employment interview skills (i.e., eye contact, facial gestures, body posture, verbal content, voice volume, length of speech, motivation, self-confidence, ability to communicate, manifest adjustment, manifest intelligence, over-all interview skill), and a global measure of employability. A cluster analysis based on the total positive and negative symptom scores produced two groups. The group with the lower mean negative symptom score exhibited better employment-interview skills and higher ratings on employability.

scholarly journals Cannabis use and abuse correlates in a homogenous South African schizophrenia population

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liezl Koen ◽  
Regan Jonathan ◽  
Dana JH Niehaus
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Functional Outcomes ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Formal Thought Disorder ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients

<p><strong>Objective.</strong> Worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance, and it has been identified as a correlate in schizophrenia samples for poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes in many international studies. The object of this retrospective study was to identify the prevalence of cannabis use/abuse and the demographic and clinical correlates therefor in a large homogeneous South African schizophrenia population.</p><p><strong>Methods.</strong> As part of a large genetic study, 547 subjects with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited. Demographic and clinical data were collected and each participant underwent a urinary drug screen. Use/abuse of cannabis was defined as using cannabis more than 21 times in a single year. Subjects with and without cannabis use/abuse were statistically compared. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results.</strong> Significant differences between the two groups were found in terms of gender, marital status, age of onset of schizophrenia, number of hospitalisations and relapses, alcohol abuse, smoking, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) scores for hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behaviour and formal thought disorder, and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) score for avolition/apathy. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion.</strong> The prevalence of cannabis use/abuse in this study was high, and our findings were comparable with those of previous international studies. Abuse/use started mainly in the teenage years, was more prevalent among males than females, and was associated with negative overall outcomes. There was also a positive correlation between cannabis and nicotine and alcohol use/abuse. Determination of cannabis abuse based solely on history was found to be reliable, and urine cannabis testing appeared to be of limited value in routine management of this group of schizophrenic patients.</p>

Positive and Negative Symptoms and the Thematic Organisation of Schizophrenic Speech

1984 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidelinde A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Positive Symptoms ◽  
Cognitive Restriction ◽  
Prevailing View ◽  
Positive And Negative Symptoms

SummaryThis study questions the prevailing view that schizophrenic delusions, hallucinations and incoherence of speech (positive symptoms) reflect loss of cognitive control and that flattening of affect and poverty of speech (negative symptoms) reflect restriction of cognitive processing.The prevailing view was examined by analysing the thematic organisation of speech produced by 18 patients describing pictures. Results showed that (a) positive and negative symptom schizophrenics did not differ in the control and restriction of thematic speech organisation; (b) speech disordered schizophrenics, positive as well as negative, showed cognitive restriction, by producing fewer inferential ideas than non-speech disordered schizophrenics.The wider implications of these results are discussed, particularly the implications of (b) for the notion of concreteness in schizophrenia.

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