BEGINNING SCHIZOPHRENIA OBSERVED BY SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

As a part of the ABC Schizophrenia Study, a large-scale investigation of the influences of age and gender on the onset and course of schizop hrenia, this study compared retrospective reports about emerging sympt omatology during the early course of schizophrenia given by patients a nd their significant others in a representative first admission sample . The Interview for the Retrospective Assessment of the Onset of Schiz ophrenia (IRAOS), a comprehensive interview assessing early signs and symptoms, revealed that, in most cases, patients as well as informants perceived negative, depressive, and unspecific symptoms as early sign s of the disorder. Pairwise agreement about the presence of certain sy mptoms was good for a limited number of signs, e.g., substance abuse, suicidal behavior, parental and marital role deficits, and paranoid de lusions. These items mainly concern abnormal behaviors that can be obs erved easily. In contrast, there was little agreement between reports about perceptual and formal thought disorder, i. e., subjective intern al phenomena. The results supported a continuity model for the observa bility of symptoms in schizophrenia.