Citation

Moranville JT, Zisook S. Ann. Clin. Psychiatry 1990; 2(3): 205-210.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists)

DOI

10.3109/10401239009147945

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Patients with schizophrenia suffer from a variety of depressive symptoms, but the prevalence and significance of these symptoms is not fully understood. Using a self-rated symptom checklist, 140 schizophrenic outpatients and 137 outpatients with affective disorder were compared on the frequency and severity of depressive symptomatology. As expected, patients with major depressive disorder had a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms than the schizophrenic patients. However, there was a substantial number of schizophrenic patients who indicated severe distress from a variety of depressive symptoms including neurovegetative type symptoms. Though no actual suicides were reported a rather ominous finding was that 14% of the schizophrenic patients reported having suicidal plans. This article discusses the implications of these findings in terms of diagnostic precision and therapeutic strategies.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; depression; schizophrenia; suicidal behavior; outpatient; article; major clinical study; psychological aspect; affective neurosis