Prospective Prediction of Hospital Stay in Schizophrenia

THE PREDICTORS of outcome in schizophrenia have been divided by investigators into two general and surprisingly separate groupings-presenting signs of the illness and level of psychosocial adjustment reached prior to the episode. The literature of the first grouping was reviewed by Chase and Silverman¹ and significantly added to by Langfeldt² and Holmboe and Astrup.³ Phillips⁴ developed a scale, part I of which measured the level of premorbid social adjustment, which has been useful in predicting outcome. Parts II and III of his scale measure precipitating events and presenting signs of the disorder respectively. Despite his attempt to combine the premorbid and presenting picture into one instrument, only that part of the scale which deals with premorbid adjustment has gained general acceptance.

The thought disorder was believed by Bleuler to be the primary psychological symptom of schizophrenia which accounted for the remaining fundamental and the accessory symptoms.