DIAGNOSTIC VALIDITY OF BASIC SYMPTOMS

Although the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms (BSABS) [ 13] has come into use in several European countries, its diagnostic va lidity has not yet been sufficiently examined. That is why we have ass essed BSABS items on a sample of 243 consecutive admissions to the Dep artment of Psychiatry at the RWTH University, Aachen, and 79 psycholog ically healthy persons. Then, a cluster analysis was calculated to ide ntify the empirical item-grouping. Five well-interpretable BSABS subsy ndromes were found. In addition, uni- and multivariate analyses were c omputed to evaluate the diagnostic validity of these subsyndromes. We were able to show that every BSABS subsyndrome separates at least schi zophrenic, organic mental and affective disorders from personality, ne urotic and substance-induced disorders, as well as from psychological health. Furthermore, the subsyndrome ''information processing disturba nces'' differentiates between schizophrenic and organic mental disorde rs, on the one hand, and affective disorders, on the other, and additi onally, the subsyndrome ''interpersonal irritation'' between schizophr enics and all other persons examined.