POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS - WHICH ARE MORE USEFUL IN DIAGNOSING SCHIZOPHRENIA

Due to the anticipated revisions concerning diagnostic criteria for sc hizophrenia in DSM-IV, recent Anglo-American research has been particu larly concerned with the controversial problem whether positive or neg ative symptoms are more suited for the determination of these criteria . We addressed this problem in an empirical study. A total of 489 cons ecutive admissions to the Department of Psychiatry at the RWTH Univers ity, Aachen were assessed for the distribution of positive, negative a nd basic symptoms according to six ICD-10 double-digit diagnostic cate gories. Positive symptoms were shown to be more useful for diagnosis t han the negative or basic symptoms. Basic symptoms, however, had a pat tern of distribution which supports the notion that they may also be u seful for the early diagnosis of schizophrenia.