Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:35:27.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pre-morbid Adjustment and Personality in Psychosis

Effects of Sex and Diagnosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alice Foerster ,
Shôn Lewis ,
Michael Owen  and
Robin Murray
Alice Foerster
Affiliation:
National Institutes of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Shôn Lewis*
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, London W6 8RP
Michael Owen
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Robin Murray
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pre-morbid schizoid and schizotypal traits and social adjustment were assessed blind to diagnosis by interviewing the mothers of 73 consecutively admitted patients with DSM–III schizophrenia or affective psychosis. Analysis of factors associated with pre-morbid deficits showed a highly significant interaction of diagnosis with sex, such that schizophrenic men showed much greater pre-morbid impairment than either schizophrenic women or men with affective disorder. Poor pre-morbid adjustment predicted an early age at first admission. The results can be explained by a neurodevelopmental disorder in some schizophrenic males.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 2 , February 1991 , pp. 171 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, N. C. Ehrhardt, J. C. Swayze, V. W. et al (1990) Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in schizophrenia: the pathophysiologic significance of structural abnormalities. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 35–47.Google Scholar
Angermeyer, M. C. Goldstein, J. M. & Kuehn, L. (1989) Gender differences in schizophrenia: rehospitalisation and community survival. Psychological Medicine, 19, 365–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Aylward, E. Walker, E. & Bettes, B. (1984) Intelligence in schizophrenia: meta-analysis of the research. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 10, 430–459.Google Scholar
Cannon-Spoor, H. E. Potkin, S. G. & Wyatt, R. J. (1982) Measurement of premorbid adjustment in chronic schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 8, 471–484.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J. DeLisi, L. E. & Johnstone, E. C. (1989) Concordance by sex in sibling pairs with concordance by sex is paternally inherited: evidence for a pseudoautosomal locus. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 92–97.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1985) The Psychology of Schizophrenia. London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Goldstein, J. M. & Link, B. G. (1988) Gender and the expression of schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 22, 144–155.Google Scholar
Gottesman, I. I. & Shields, J. (1982) Schizophrenia: the Epigenetic Puzzle. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hafner, H. Riecher, A. Maurer, K. et al (1989) How does gender influence age at first hospitalisation for schizophrenia? A transnational case register study. Psychological Medicine, 19, 903–918.Google Scholar
Hanson, D. R. Gottesmann, I. I. & Heston, L. L. (1976) Some possible childhood indications of adult schizophrenia inferred from the children of schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 142–154.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (1977) Sex differences in empathy and related behaviours. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 712–722.Google Scholar
John, R. S. Mednick, S. A. Schulsinger, F. (1982) Teacher reports as a predictor of schizophrenia and borderline schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 399–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S. Gruenberg, A. M. & Strauss, J. S. (1981) An independent analysis of the Copenhagen sample of the Danish adoption study of schizophrenia II. The relationship between schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 982–984.Google Scholar
Kloreman, R. Strauss, J. S. & Kokes, R. F. (1977) Premorbid adjustments in schizophrenia: concepts, measures and implications. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 3, 214–220.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E. (1913) Psychiatrica, vol. 3 (8th edn). Trans. (1919) as Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia. Edinburgh: Livingstone.Google Scholar
Kretschmer, E. (1921) Physique and Character (trans. 1936). London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Lewine, R. J. Strauss, J. R. & Gift, T. E. (1981) Sex differences in age at first hospital admission for schizophrenia: fact or artefact? American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 440–445.Google Scholar
Lewis, S. W. (1989) Congenital risk factors for schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 19, 5–13.Google Scholar
Loranger, A. W. (1984) Sex differences in age of onset in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 157–161.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. A. & Jacklin, C. N. (1980) Psychological sex differences. In Developmental Psychiatry (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 92–100. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A. Parnas, J. & Schulsinger, F. (1987) The Copenhagen high-risk project 1962–1987. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 13, 485–491.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1962) Schizotaxia, schizotypy and schizophrenia. American Psychologist, 17, 827–838.Google Scholar
Murray, R. M. & Lewis, S. W. (1987) Is schizophrenia a neurodevelopmental disorder. British Medical Journal, 295, 681–682.Google Scholar
Seeman, M. (1983) Interaction of sex, age and neuroleptic dose. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 24, 125–130.Google Scholar
Strauss, J. S. Kokes, R. F. Klorman, R. et al (1977) Premorbid adjustment in schizophrenia: concepts, measures and implications. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 3, 182–185.Google Scholar
Watt, N. F. (1972) Longitudinal changes in the social behaviour of children hospitalised for schizophrenia as adults. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 155, 42–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. R. (1987) Implications of normal brain development for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 660–669.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R. Cannon-Spoon, E. Potkin, S. C. et al (1980) Poor premorbid adjustment and CT scan abnormalities chronic schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 1410–1413.Google Scholar
Williams, A. O. Reveley, M. A. Kolakowska, T. et al (1985) Schizophrenia with good and poor outcome II: cerebral ventricular size and its clinical significance. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 239–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K. Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zigler, E. & Levine, J. (1981) Age of first hospitalisation of schizophrenics; a developmental approach. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 458–464.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.