MULTIPLE SOMATIC COMPLAINTS AS A PRECURSOR OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
WILLIAM OFFENKRANTZ M.D.1
1 Assoc. Prof. of Psychiatry, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill.
Evidence has been presented to suggest that a significantly high proportion of a group of schizophrenic patients showed clinical evidence of a psychiatric disorder while in military service prior to the onset of the obvious schizophrenic illness. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that this earlier disorder was characterized in part by the presence of (multiple) somatic complaints, which may well represent the classical picture of true hypochondriasis.
