Psychopathological and social outcome in schizophrenia versus affective/schizoaffective psychoses and prediction of poor outcome in schizophrenia. Results from a 5-8 year follow-up

Forty-six patients with the ICD diagnosis of schizophrenic or similar paranoid psychosis, 35 patients with the ICD diagnosis of affective psychosis, 22 patients with the ICD diagnosis of schizoaffective psychosis, and a large sample of control probands from the general population were followed up using standardized assessment procedures 5-8 years after index hospital treatment. A comparison of respective psychopathological or social outcome measures among the diagnostic groups and between patients and matched non-patients from the general population survey confirms the hypothesis that patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia have, as a group, the poorest degree of psychopathological disturbances and social maladjustment. However, there is a large subgroup with a favourable outcome. Some predictors for poor outcome, described in the literature and in a former follow-up study of ours, could be confirmed. Under the aspect of invariance under different sample conditions, the predictive power of some prognostic scales, such as the Stephens Scale, the Vaillant Scale, and the Strauss-Carpenter Scale, was substantiated.