Positive and negative thought disorder and psychopathology in childhood among subjects with adulthood schizophrenia

• Published in: Schizophrenia research 2002-12, Vol.58 (2), p.231-239
• Main Authors: Ott, S.L, Roberts, S, Rock, D, Allen, J, Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child of Impaired Parents; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Early symptoms; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological Tests; Observer Variation; Prospective Studies; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - epidemiology; Schizophrenia - genetics; Schizophrenic Psychology; Severity of Illness Index; Thinking; Thought disorder
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(01)00339-5

The New York High-Risk Project (NYHRP) is a longitudinal study of offspring of parents with schizophrenia or affective disorder and normal controls. Neuropsychological deficits had been observed at about age 9 in subjects with adulthood schizophrenia. We explored whether in these subjects, early signs of clinical schizophrenia-related symptoms, such as thought disorder or behavioral abnormalities, could also be observed. Methods: We rated thought disorder and symptoms from videotaped interviews at age 9, using the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC), and the Mental Health Assessment Form (MHAF). With factor analyses we examined the structure of the ratings, and from interpretable factors, scales were assembled. MANOVAs were used to examine the effect of parental risk and adulthood psychiatric diagnosis (schizophrenia-related psychosis (SRP), major affective disorder (MAD), no disorder/other (NoDx/other)) as independent variables (IV) on thought disorder and symptoms as dependent variables. Results: Global, positive and negative thought disorder, and negative symptoms were significantly higher in subjects with adulthood schizophrenia-related psychosis than both comparison groups. A significant interaction between the two IVs was effective with respect to positive thought disorder. This scale was particularly elevated among subjects with adulthood schizophrenia-related psychosis at parental risk for affective disorder (all of whom had adulthood schizoaffective disorder). Conclusions: We were able to show that global, negative and positive thought disorder and negative symptoms were present in subjects with adulthood schizophrenia already at mid-childhood, years before onset of psychosis. Further, we found a particularly high propensity to positive symptoms in subjects with adulthood schizophrenia who have also an affective component in their symptoms. This association, previously reported in acute schizophrenia, was here observed years before the first psychotic episode.