Exploring the structure of psychopathological symptoms: a re-analysis of AMDP data by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling

This paper investigates the structure of psychopathological symptoms. Based on AMDP symptom profiles, a symptom space was calculated by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the symptom structures of a sample dating from 1980 and a sample from 2002/2003 were compared. The method of NM...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 2012-04, Vol.262 (3), p.227-238
Main Authors: Läge, Damian, Egli, Samy, Riedel, Michael, Möller, Hans-Jürgen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Behavioral Symptoms - diagnosis
Behavioral Symptoms - psychology
Classification
Data processing
Dating
Factor analysis
Female
Humans
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental Disorders - diagnosis
Mental Disorders - psychology
Middle Aged
Multidimensional scaling
Multivariate Analysis
Nervous system
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychiatry
Psychopathology
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Young Adult
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Summary:This paper investigates the structure of psychopathological symptoms. Based on AMDP symptom profiles, a symptom space was calculated by robust nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the symptom structures of a sample dating from 1980 and a sample from 2002/2003 were compared. The method of NMDS presented in this study allows results from other studies to be confirmed and complemented. The symptom factors identified in the past by factor-analytic studies were replicated as clusters in two-dimensional symptom maps. Additionally, some theoretically assumed clusters of symptoms were detected that were not found in previous factor analysis approaches. From the results, which are depicted in a continuous space, new insights can be gained, especially with regard to questions of categorical and dimensional classifications. The comparison of the structural aspects of the symptomatology across more than two decades resulted in only small divergences and allows conclusions to be drawn about the stability of these structures and consequently of the symptom clusters and dimensions.
ISSN:0940-1334
1433-8491
DOI:10.1007/s00406-011-0271-x