Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:1456-1458
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
The relationship of paranoid states to schizophrenia
JA Watt
The author interviewed relatives of 32 paranoid patients, 32 matched
depressed patients, and 15 schizophrenic patients regarding family history.
Two (1.3%) of the relatives of paranoid patients and one (0.6%) of the
relatives of depressed patients had possible paranoid states. Significantly
more relatives of schizophrenic patients than relatives of paranoid or
depressed patients had schizophrenia, but the rates were similar among
relatives of paranoid and depressed patients. The author concludes that
there is little evidence of familial occurrence of paranoid states and no
evidence that paranoid states are familially related to schizophrenia.
