Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-l9twb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T07:58:21.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A 20-year multi-follow-up of hallucinations in schizophrenia, other psychotic, and mood disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2012

V. M. Goghari*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
M. Harrow
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
L. S. Grossman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
C. Rosen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: V. M. Goghari, Ph.D., R. Psych., Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Administration Building, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, CanadaT2N 1N4. (Email: vina.m.goghari@ucalgary.ca)

Abstract

Background

Hallucinations are a major aspect of psychosis and a diagnostic feature of both psychotic and mood disorders. However, the field lacks information regarding the long-term course of hallucinations in these disorders. Our goals were to determine the percentage of patients with hallucinations and the relationship between hallucinations and recovery, and work attainment.

Method

The present study was a prospective evaluation of the 20-year trajectory of hallucinations in 150 young patients: 51 schizophrenia, 25 schizoaffective, 25 bipolar with psychosis, and 49 unipolar depression. The patients were studied at an index phase of hospitalization for hallucinations, and then reassessed longitudinally at six subsequent follow-ups over 20 years.

Results

The longitudinal course of hallucinations clearly differentiated between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychosis, and suggested some diagnostic similarities between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, and between bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder and depression. Frequent or persistent hallucinatory activity over the 20-year period was a feature of 40–45% of schizophrenia patients. The early presence of hallucinations predicted the lack of future periods of recovery in all patients. Increased hallucinatory activity was associated with reduced work attainment in all patients.

Conclusions

This study provides data on the prospective longitudinal course of hallucinations, which were previously unavailable to the field, and are one of the key features of psychosis in major psychiatric disorders. This information on the clinical course of major psychiatric disorders can inform accurate classification and diagnosis.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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

Arndt, S, Andreasen, NC, Flaum, M, Miller, D, Nopoulos, P (1995). A longitudinal study of symptom dimensions in schizophrenia. Prediction and patterns of change. Archives of General Psychiatry 52, 352360.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartels-Velthuis, AA, Jenner, JA, van de Willige, G, van Os, J, Wiersma, D (2010). Prevalence and correlates of auditory vocal hallucinations in middle childhood. British Journal of Psychiatry 196, 4146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartels-Velthuis, AA, van de Willige, G, Jenner, JA, van Os, J, Wiersma, D (2011). Course of auditory vocal hallucinations in childhood: 5-year follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry 199, 296302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bland, RC, Parker, JH, Orn, H (1978). Prognosis in schizophrenia. Prognostic predictors and outcome. Archives of General Psychiatry 35, 7277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, E (1950). Dementia Praecox or The Group of Schizophrenias. International Universities Press: New York.Google Scholar
Bonner-Jackson, A, Grossman, LS, Harrow, M, Rosen, C (2010). Neurocognition in schizophrenia: a 20-year multi-follow-up of the course of processing speed and stored knowledge. Comprehensive Psychiatry 51, 471479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Endicott, J, Spitzer, RL (1978). A diagnostic interview: the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 35, 837844.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Endicott, J, Spitzer, RL, Fleiss, JL, Cohen, J (1976). The Global Assessment Scale: a procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 766771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, WS, McGlashan, TH (1987). Sustained remission in drug-free schizophrenic patients. American Journal of Psychiatry 144, 13061309.Google ScholarPubMed
Goeree, R, Farahati, F, Burke, N, Blackhouse, G, O'Reilly, D, Pyne, J, Tarride, JE (2005). The economic burden of schizophrenia in Canada in 2004. Current Medical Research and Opinion 21, 20172028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goghari, VM, Sponheim, SR, Macdonald, AW 3rd (2010). The functional neuroanatomy of symptom dimensions in schizophrenia: a qualitative and quantitative review of a persistent question. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 34, 468486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, MF (1996). What are the functional consequences of neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia? American Journal of Psychiatry 153, 321330.Google ScholarPubMed
Green, MF, Kern, RS, Braff, DL, Mintz, J (2000). Neurocognitive deficits and functional outcome in schizophrenia: are we measuring the ‘right stuff’? Schizophrenia Bulletin 26, 119136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grinker, R, Harrow, M (1987). Clinical Research in Schizophrenia: A Multidimensional Approach. Thomas CC: Springfield, IL.Google Scholar
Gur, RE, Petty, RG, Turetsky, BI, Gur, RC (1996). Schizophrenia throughout life: sex differences in severity and profile of symptoms. Schizophrenia Research 21, 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harding, CM, Brooks, GW, Ashikaga, T, Strauss, JS, Breier, A (1987). The Vermont Longitudinal Study of Persons with Severe Mental Illness, II: long-term outcome of subjects who retrospectively met DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 144, 727735.Google ScholarPubMed
Harrison, G, Hopper, K, Craig, T, Laska, E, Siegel, C, Wanderling, J, Dube, KC, Ganev, K, Giel, R, An der Heiden, W, Holmberg, SK, Janca, A, Lee, PWH, Leon, CA, Malhotra, S, Marsella, AJ, Nakane, Y, Sartorius, N, Shen, Y, Skoda, C, Thara, R, Tsirkin, SJ, Varma, VK, Walsh, D, Wiersma, D (2001). Recovery from psychotic illness: a 15- and 25-year international follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry 178, 506517.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrow, M, Grossman, LS, Herbener, ES, Davies, EW (2000). Ten-year outcome: patients with schizoaffective disorders, schizophrenia, affective disorders and mood-incongruent psychotic symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry 177, 421426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrow, M, Herbener, ES, Shanklin, A, Jobe, TH, Rattenbury, F, Kaplan, KJ (2004). Followup of psychotic outpatients: dimensions of delusions and work functioning in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 30, 147161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrow, M, Jobe, TH (2005). Longitudinal studies of outcome and recovery in schizophrenia and early intervention: can they make a difference? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 50, 879880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrow, M, Jobe, TH (2007). Factors involved in outcome and recovery in schizophrenia patients not on antipsychotic medications: a 15-year multifollow-up study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 195, 406414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrow, M, Jobe, TH (2010). How frequent is chronic multiyear delusional activity and recovery in schizophrenia: a 20-year multi-follow-up. Schizophrenia Bulletin 36, 192204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrow, M, Jobe, TH, Faull, RN (2012). Do all schizophrenia patients need antipsychotic treatment continuously throughout their lifetime? A 20-year longitudinal study. Psychological Medicine. Published online 17 February 2012. doi: 10.1017/S0033291712000220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbener, ES, Harrow, M (2004). Are negative symptoms associated with functioning deficits in both schizophrenia and nonschizophrenia patients? A 10-year longitudinal analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 30, 813825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hubl, D, Koenig, T, Strik, W, Federspiel, A, Kreis, R, Boesch, C, Maier, SE, Schroth, G, Lovblad, K, Dierks, T (2004). Pathways that make voices – white matter changes in auditory hallucinations. Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 658668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jardri, R, Pouchet, A, Pins, D, Thomas, P (2011). Cortical activations during auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia: a coordinate-based meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 168, 7381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnstone, EC, Macmillan, JF, Frith, CD, Benn, DK, Crow, TJ (1990). Further investigation of the predictors of outcome following first schizophrenic episodes. British Journal of Psychiatry 157, 182189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kraepelin, E (1907). Clinical Psychiatry: A Textbook for Students and Physicians. Macmillan Company: London.Google Scholar
Mancevski, B, Keilp, J, Kurzon, M, Berman, RM, Ortakov, V, Harkavy-Friedman, J, Rosoklija, G, Dwork, AJ (2007). Lifelong course of positive and negative symptoms in chronically institutionalized patients with schizophrenia. Psychopathology 40, 8392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marengo, J, Harrow, M, Herbener, ES, Sands, J (2000). A prospective longitudinal 10-year study of schizophrenia's three major factors and depression. Psychiatry Research 97, 6177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGlashan, TH (1988). A selective review of recent North-American long-term follow-up studies of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 14, 515542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pfohl, B, Winokur, G (1982). The evolution of symptoms in institutionalized hebephrenic catatonic schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 567572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, HG Jr., Lipinski, JF, Cohen, BM, Axelrod, DT (1980). ‘Schizoaffective disorder’: an invalid diagnosis? A comparison of schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, and affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 137, 921927.Google ScholarPubMed
Pope, HG Jr., Lipinski, JF Jr. (1978). Diagnosis in schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness: a reassessment of the specificity of ‘schizophrenic’ symptoms in the light of current research. Archives of General Psychiatry 35, 811828.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Racenstein, JM, Harrow, M, Reed, R, Martin, E, Herbener, E, Penn, DL (2002). The relationship between positive symptoms and instrumental work functioning in schizophrenia: a 10 year follow-up study. Schizophrenia Research 56, 95103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Racenstein, JM, Penn, D, Harrow, M, Schleser, R (1999). Thought disorder and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia: the concurrent and predictive relationships. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 187, 281289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosen, C, Grossman, LS, Harrow, M, Bonner-Jackson, A, Faull, R (2011). Diagnostic and prognostic significance of Schneiderian first-rank symptoms: a 20-year longitudinal study of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry 52, 126131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samaha, AN, Seeman, P, Stewart, J, Rajabi, H, Kapur, S (2007). ‘Breakthrough’ dopamine supersensitivity during ongoing antipsychotic treatment leads to treatment failure over time. Journal of Neuroscience 27, 29792986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, SK, Miller, DD, Oliver, SE, Arndt, S, Flaum, M, Andreasen, NC (1997). The life course of schizophrenia: age and symptom dimensions. Schizophrenia Research 23, 1523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shergill, SS, Brammer, MJ, Williams, SC, Murray, RM, McGuire, PK (2000). Mapping auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 10331038.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, RL, Endicott, J, Robins, E (1978). Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 35, 773782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, GP, Harrow, M, Grossman, LS, Rosen, C (2010). Periods of recovery in deficit syndrome schizophrenia: a 20-year multi-follow-up longitudinal study. Schizophrenia Bulletin 36, 788799.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, JS, Carpenter, WT Jr. (1972). The prediction of outcome in schizophrenia. I. Characteristics of outcome. Archives of General Psychiatry 27, 739746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ventura, J, Subotnik, KL, Guzik, LH, Hellemann, GS, Gitlin, MJ, Wood, RC, Nuechterlein, KH (2011). Remission and recovery during the first outpatient year of the early course of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 132, 1823.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waters, F, Aleman, A, Fernyhough, C, Allen, P (2012). Report on the inaugural meeting of the International Consortium on Hallucination Research: a clinical and research update and 16 consensus-set goals for future research. Schizophrenia Bulletin 38, 258262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar