Basic symptoms, as defined and described by the Bonn Scale, were assessed b
y means of a new self-report inventory, the Rome Basic Disorders Scale. On
all the subscales, psychiatric outpatients (n = 105; most frequent diagnose
s: Schizophrenia, Anxiety Disorders, and Mood Disorders) scored significant
ly higher (p<.001) than nonclinical controls (n = 105). Psychiatric patient
s with at least one diagnosis on the psychotic sets of Foulds' hierarchical
inventory (n = 45), compared with the rest of the psychiatric sample (n =
60), had significantly higher scores on nearly all subscales. Two groups of
inpatients with Schizophrenia (n = 20) and Mood Disorders (n = 20) were te
sted on Day 2 and 9 of hospitalization in an emergency ward. Schizophrenic
patients had significantly higher scores on most of the subscales, but only
on Day 9; on Day 2 depressed and manic patients scored significantly highe
r on four subscales. Until now basic symptoms had not been studied during t
he intrapsychotic phase, mainly because of their transformation into first-
rank symptoms; present findings suggest that basic symptoms are active also
at the height of the psychotic breakdown and that they are more responsive
to treatment in Depression and Mania than in Schizophrenia.