PAIN INSENSITIVITY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - A NEGLECTED PHENOMENON AND SOMEIMPLICATIONS

The literature on insensitivity to pain in schizophrenia is reviewed. Numerous reports indicate that, relative to normals, individuals with schizophrenia are insensitive to physical pain associated with illness and injury. In addition, insensitivity to pain of various sorts admin istered in experimental studies has been reported frequently in this p opulation. This extensive and diverse literature of clinical and exper imental reports suggests that many individuals with schizophrenia are less sensitive to pain than normal individuals. However, because the e xperimental studies-almost all of which were conducted before 1980 - s uffer from a variety of methodological limitations, this research prov ides neither a satisfactory characterization nor an adequate explanati on of pain insensitivity in schizophrenia. It is argued that this wide ly reported but currently neglected phenomenon has important implicati ons for physical health, self-mutilation, homelessness, premorbid deve lopment, and affective flattening in individuals with schizophrenia.