[The Frankfurt-Pamplona subjective experience scale]. / Escala de experiencias subjectivas Frankfurt-Pamplona.

Several instruments have been designed to assess subjective experiences (SE). The Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ) is the most widely used scale to assess SE. This study was aimed to replicate the factor validation of the scale in a Spanish sample. A factor analysis we carried out on the 98-items of FCQ. No a four-factor solution was found, as initially it had been proposed by authors of the scale. A simplified version of the FCQ was derived through procedures of unidimensionality analysis of factors.

[Schizophrenia models: a review of the hypothetical pathologic processes underlying phenomenological manifestations]. / Modelos de esquizofrenia: una revisión de los hipotéticos procesos patológicos subyacentes a las manifestaciones fenomenológicas.

Since Kraepelin and Bleuler consolidated the concepts of dementia preacox and schizophrenia almost a century ago, the heterogeneity of the disorder has been recognized as a problem. Since the germinal contribution of Crow, two different processes underlying positive and negative symptoms have been intensively studied. However, there are data that suggest the existence of four underlaying pathological processes to schizophrenic phenomenology: positive, negative, disorganisation and relational, the former three processes being of physiopathological nature and the disorders of relating having a psychological character. Other symptomatological dimensions such as subjective cognitive disorders and catatonic phenomena deserve further research.

[Validation of positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) in a sample of Spanish schizophrenic patients]. / Validacion de la escala de los síndromes positivo y negativo (PANSS) en una muestra de esquizofrenicos españoles.

We analyzed the reliability and validity issues of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in a sample of 100 DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients. Our findings coincided with the results of the scale authors in the following points: 1) the PANSS scores were normally distributed, 2) the positive and negative scales showed a good interrater reliability, 3) the construct validity was appropriate, 4) the positive and negative scales held a high criterion-related validity in relation to SAPS and SANS. Unlike to the authors of the PANSS, we found a modest internal consistency and an insufficient factorial validity of the positive scale, indicating that it is composed by several independent components. The data suggest that the distinction between positive and negative symptoms is an oversimplification, and that schizophrenic symptoms can be better conceptualized as being composed by, at least, three dimensional syndromes: positive, disorganization and negative.

[Subjective cognitive disorders in schizophrenia]. / Transtornos cognitivos subjetivos en la esquizofrenia.

The current status of the subjective cognitive disorders (SCD) in schizophrenia is examined Hypothetically, SCD are ascribed to impairments of information processing, however studies on the relationship between SCD and information processing are scarce and contradictory. The psychometric properties of most SCD' scales are not enough studied, but they seem to have a high interrater reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity. The number of SCD is related to female sex, and inversely to educative level and the lack of insight into illness. In the acute stage of illness, the SCD are associated to positive symptoms and they can then reflect the process activity of the schizophrenia. In the remission stage of illness, the SCD are related to negative symptoms and they are the subjective experience of the psychological deficit. A theory of the SCD in the framework of the vulnerability/stress model of schizophrenia is proposed.

[Premorbid adjustment and negative schizophrenic symptoms]. / Ajuste premórbido y síntomas esquizofrénicos negativos.

The relationship between premorbid schizoid traits and the positive and negative symptoms assessed by the Andreasen's SANS and SAPS scales was studied in a sample of 115 DSM-III-R schizophrenics. For the assessment of the schizoid traits the abbreviated Philip's scale of premorbid social-personal adjustment was employed. Negative symptoms, excepting the attentional scale, but no positive symptoms were significantly correlated (p < or = .01) with the Philips's scale. These results suggest that the schizoid traits are the behavioral precursors of schizophrenic negative symptoms. The implications of the results for the genetic and vulnerability/stress models of schizophrenia are discussed.

[Formal changes of thought in schizophrenic, schizophreniform, and manic schizoaffective disorders]. / Alteraciones formales del pensamiento en trastornos esquizofrénicos, esquizofreniformes y esquizoafectivos maníacos.

The aim of the present study was to verify the hypothesis that there are formal thought disorders more specific to schizophrenic disorders. The sample was composed of 82 admitted patients who were chosen for two reasons: presence of schizophrenic symptoms and they fulfilled the RDC criteria for schizophrenic or schizoaffective manic disorders. They were subdivided in three groups according to the RDC and DSM-III-R criteria. The first group were twenty eight patients who fulfilled both criteria to schizophrenic disorders, the second group 28 whose fulfilled the RDC but not DSM-III-R criteria of schizophrenic disorder, and the third group were 26 schizoaffective manics in RDC but with diverse diagnoses in DSM-III-R. A factorial analysis was carried out with oblique rotation and one-way analyses of variance of the factors between the diagnostic groups. It resulted in six factors which explained 70% of the variance and were named: disorganization, negative, stylistic, tangential, manic and semantic factors. The schizophrenic patients and significantly loaded in the negative factor with respect to the other groups, and were significantly loaded in the tangential factor with respect to schizophreniform group. The schizoaffective manics were significantly loaded in manic factor respect to the other groups. Therefore there were symptomatological constellations more specific to schizophrenic disorders. Also, significative correlations were found between the disorganization factor and the SANS attention subscale and a lack of correlations between this factor and the positive symptoms. The existence of a new disorganization syndrome was confirmed, which supplements the positive-negative dichotomous model that has been proposed by some authors.

[Inter-observer reliability of negative schizophrenic symptoms]. / Estudio de la fiabilidad interobservador de los síntomas negativos esquizofrénicos.

The interrater reliability of negative symptoms was measured in 30 DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients. The negative symptoms were assessed using the Scale of Emotional Blunting (SEB) of Abrams y Taylor, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) of Andreasen and the negative symptoms of Landmark's Manual for the Assessment of Schizophrenia (MAE). The interrater reliability of negative symptoms measured using the SEB and SANS scales was good or excellent, while the reliability of the MAE was moderate. The results point out that the negative schizophrenic symptoms can be reliably measured when operative criteria are employed.

[The prognostic value of thought disorders in schizophrenia]. / El valor pronóstico de los trastornos del pensamiento en la esquizofrenia.

The prognostic value of the thought disorders in seventy one hospitalized schizophrenic patients was examined. The thought disorders were evaluated with the TLC scale of Andreasen and the autcome with the Strauss-Carpenter scale, the GAF (past year) and a clinical global prognose. The results shown that the presence as well as the severity of thought disorders are associated with pour autcome. That relation was strongest with the Strauss-Carpenter scale and when distinction between positive and negative thought disorder was done.

[Positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms: a reanalysis of the dichotomous model of schizophrenia]. / Sintomas esquizofrénicos positivos y negativos: un reanálisis del modelo dicotómico de la esquizofrenia.

The positive and negative symptoms were analyzed in 115 schizophrenic patients (DSM-III-R criteria) through correlative and factorial analyses, in order to test the positive-negative hypothesis of schizophrenia. The intercorrelative analysis showed high intercorrelations between negative, but low or no correlations between positive symptoms (excepting delusions with hallucinations), which implies that the group of positive symptoms may represent more than one type of symptom complex. This results were confirmed by factorial analysis which identified three distinct clusters of symptoms: the negative syndrome (affective flattening, alogia, abolition-apathy, and anhedonia-asociality), the disorganizative syndrome (positive formal thought disorder, and attentional impairment) and the positive syndrome (delusions and hallucinations). No inverse relations were observed between positive and negative syndromes. This results no support the bipolar-independence hypothesis of the positive-negative distinction in schizophrenia and they need to be confirmed through external validators.

[Cognition disorders in schizophrenia: evaluation using the Frankfurt psychopathologic inventory (FBF-3). Initial results]. / Trastornos cognitivos en la esquizofrenia: valoración por medio del inventario psicopatológico de Frankfurt (FBF-3). Resultados iniciales

The authors present the preliminary results of the third version of the Frankfurt Psychopathological Inventory (FBF-3) in a sample of consecutive schizophrenic inpatients. They were 64 patients who had the RDC and/or DSM-III-R schizophrenic criteria. Forty-three patients fulfilled the FBF-3 and were the scope of this study. There were not influences in the results of FBF-3 in relation to epidemiological and clinical variables, with the exception of the sex and lack of insight variables. The results were analyzed and compared with the previous studies in the literature. It is suggested its relations with theoretical and etiopathogenic models of schizophrenia.