The authors provide a rationale for distinguishing the primary, enduring
negative symptoms of schizophrenia (termed "deficit symptoms") from the
more transient negative symptoms secondary to other factors. They argue
that the former are more likely to provide a basis for meaningful subtyping
of the schizophrenic syndrome, while the latter are more likely to respond
to currently available treatments. They describe their experience in using
clinical judgment based on longitudinal observations to identify deficit
and nondeficit subtypes of schizophrenic patients and propose criteria for
defining schizophrenia with the deficit syndrome.
Abstract Teaser