CLINICAL AND ACOUSTIC MEASURES OF THE NEGATIVE SYNDROME

We studied 12 male schizophrenia patients in a 6-week treatment trial comparing two neuroleptics and placebo. Efficacy in regard to negative symptoms was of interest, and Alphs' Negative Symptom Assessment (NSA ) was included. The NSA includes behaviorally anchored ratings such as ''prolonged time to response'' and ''restricted speech output.'' Audi o recordings of interviews with the patients were analyzed acousticall y. In general, the behavioral anchors did not prevent the ratings from being influenced by global impressions. There was a strong correlatio n between each item and the total of other items, but a modest correla tion with the relevant behavioral measure. Results suggest that, even with specific and behaviorally anchored items, the clinician's assessm ent is confounded by global impressions. Treatment effects were greate r for the acoustic measures than for the clinical measures.