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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
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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 

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