NORMAL AND ABNORMAL VARIANTS OF PREMORBID PERSONALITY IN FUNCTIONAL MENTAL-DISORDERS - CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

The study of premorbid personality in functional (i.e., nonorganic'') mental disorders may serve as a basis for the study of personality dis orders. The latter can be considered as maladapted extreme variants of the types or dimensions of personality found either premorbidly in ps ychiatric patients or in healthy probands. Retrospective as well as pr ospective studies indicate that schizotypal traits are seldom found in the premorbid development of schizophrenics. Apparently, they are rel atively nonspecific symptoms of the initial stage or of a subclinical form of the psychosis. The same seems to apply to cyclothymic traits i n affective disorders. On the other hand, hyperthymic traits can often be ascertained premorbidly in bipolar patients with a preponderance o f mania in the long run. These findings should be taken into account w hen constructing diagnostic schemata of Axis I and Axis II disorders, such as DSM-IV.