RISK FACTOR MODEL FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA ACCOR DING TO BRODSKY AND BRODSKY- AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY

In the year 1981 the canadian psychologists Patricia & Marvin Brodsky published an article about a model integrating risk variables involved in the development of Schizophrenia which is very important but not v ery well known in the german speaking countries. This model which desc ribes essentially the interaction of four risk variables, such as ment al health of the mother, neonatal status, temperament and mothering st yle, shall be published for the interested reader on the one hand. On the other hand the consequences of the risk variable ''mothering style '' should be empirically examined in a retrospective study. With a sta ndardized interview containing all essential variables of Brodsky's ri sk model 73 patients suffering in schizophrenia and being inpatient in the Rheinische Landesklinik Bonn were examined and the interview data were evaluated with regard to the contents in contrast to a control g roup of 26 healthy persons. With regard to the ''schizophrenia spectru m'' the portion of so called ''superphrenics'' (defined as ''artistica lly and musically gifted offspring with a schizophrenic mother'') was not significantly increased in the schizophrenic sample (17,8% vs 7,7% ) but the comparison of mothering style (empathic contingent vs. non-e mpathic and non-contingent) revealed a statistically significant diffe rence between the groups. Finally the data of the risk variable ''moth ering style'' are discussed in the light of the Brodsky-model and it i s pointed at the special problems in reliable and valid operationalisa tion and assessment of the risk variables.