Johan Landmark

Clinical correlates of insight in schizophrenia.

111 schizophrenic patients diagnosed in accordance with DSM–III were rated on Landmarks symptom checklist, on demographic variables, and on variables descriptive of the course of illness. Of the 111 patients, 108 (97.3%) showed poor insight into their illness at some time in the past and 65 (58.6%) at the time of assessment. Those presently showing poor insight were significantly (Pearson rs, p < .01, 2-tailed) more frequently rated as currently displaying poor judgement also in other matters (r = .50), as showing social withdrawal (r = .42) and poor rapport (r = .33), and as being preoccupied with their delusions or hallucinations (r = .31) and as being unreliable informants (r = .41). They usually had lower education (r = .33), their income in the last taxation year was lower (r = .47), and their work functioning was less adequate (r = .30).

Interrelationships of systems for diagnosing schizophrenia

Abstract One hundred twenty patients (73 women, 47 men) with a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia were reevaluated by means of 13 traditional diagnostic systems for diagnosing schizophrenia. Each system classified at least 62% of patients as schizophrenic except E. Bleulers system, used with a cut-off score of 4. Intercorrelations of the systems and their correlations to social and anamnestic variables were examined. The data lead us to favor Langfeldts system and the DSM-III.

ARE SCHIZOPHRENIC SYMPTOMS DIFFERENT IN PATIENTS WITH HIGHER EDUCATION

Ratings of 87 symptoms on a Canadian sample of 108 DSM-III schizophrenics (41 men, 67 women) were unrelated (point biserial coefficients) to their education. The only exceptions to this trend were weak correlations with ratings of apathy, insight, and of premorbid adjustment. Patients with higher education were less frequently labelled as apathetic (r = .28) or as lacking insight (r = .26) and their premorbid adjustment was better (r = .25). None of the symptoms traditionally considered as markers specific for schizophrenia was significantly related to education.

The Relationship of Catatonia Symptoms to Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Objective: To evaluate the relationships of symptoms of catatonic schizophrenia to 77 symptoms relevant for diagnosing schizophrenia and to socioanamnestic variables. Method: Data from a sample of 112 Canadian patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) were evaluated via φ correlation coefficients. Results: Forty-five (40.2%) of our 112 patients had catatonic symptoms, either at the time of this study or in the past. However, only weak correlations (φ < 0.31) to other symptoms relevant for diagnosing schizophrenia were found, and no significant correlations to socioanamnestic variables were found. Conclusion: Symptoms of catatonia appear to be independent of the key symptoms of schizophrenia.

Characteristics of Schizophrenic Patients and the Outcome of Fluphenazine and of Electroconvulsive Treatments

We examined the outcome with fluphenazine treatment and ECT in a group of 120 patients according to the incidence of psychopathological symptoms, the patients’ status on a variety of sociodemographic and anamnestic variables, and their diagnoses according to 13 systems for diagnosing schizophrenia. All had previously been considered to be schizophrenic patients at least once in hospital settings. The outcome with fluphenazine was better in patients with passivity feelings, auditory hallucinations and other hallucinations and delusions. The outcome with patients who had ECT, as judged from the hospital files, was better in those who were preoccupied with delusions or hallucinations and less successful in those who had been diagnosed as having schizophrenia on the first previous occasion when they had been discharged from the hospital.

Symptom patterns in schizophrenia for men and women.

Differences on symptoms and anamnestic variables were studied in a sample of 112 Canadian patients (42 men and 70 women) who met DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia. Men were more often rated as providing unreliable information than were women. A smaller proportion of men than women showed spontaneous remissions (a return to premorbid level), and fewer men also displayed phasic changes in appetite, weight, or sexual activity. It is noteworthy that men and women did not differ on general indices of severity of illness such as the number of past hospitalizations or length of hospital stay. In contrast to numerous past studies, an earlier age of onset of the illness for men was nonsignificant.

CORRELATES OF HYSTERICAL SYMPTOMS IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS

The correlations of symptoms of hysteria with 87 symptoms relevant for diagnosing schizophrenia were examined in a sample of 112 patients (70 women and 42 men whose mean age was 38.1 yr., SD = 9.8) with DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia. Hysterical symptoms were recorded in 37.5% of the schizophrenics. No significant relationships (phi coefficients) were found to key symptoms of schizophrenia.

Fluphenazine treatment of DSM-III-R male schizophrenic patients among the Xhosa

A comparison of fluphenazine decanoate depot injection used alone and fluphenazine decanoate with fluphenazine HCl i.m. was undertaken in South African Xhosa patients with schizophrenia diagnosed according to DSM-III-R. The combined treatment significantly shortened the length of hospital stay to a mean of 30.5 days from a mean of 40.7 days for the single therapy group. The combined treatment group also obtained significantly higher improvement ratings one week after the start of treatment than the single treatment patients.