Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:1131-1135
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Reliability and validity of emotional blunting as a criterion for diagnosis of schizophrenia
JA Boeringa and S Castellani
The authors tested the usefulness of emotional blunting as a criterion for
the diagnosis of schizophrenia on 130 patients with Research Diagnostic
Criteria (RDC), diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and
affective disorder, using both a scale devised by Abrams and Taylor and a
global item from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia.
Reliability for both measures was very high. The results did not support
the use of emotional blunting as a value criterion for the RDC diagnosis of
schizophrenia, although it may be useful in differentiating subtypes of
schizophrenia and as an exclusion criterion for affective disorders. There
was no advantage in using a scale rather than a single rating measure for
assigning diagnoses.
