Somatotyping of schizophrenic and affective disorder patients

INTRODUCTION: Constitutional traits have been found to show a distinct relevance to major psychiatric disorders. Syndromal modified expressivity is also closely related to somatotypic constitution. In this view somatotyping appears valuable in diagnosis and prognosis of mental disorders. AIM: The present study was conducted in an attempt to outline somatotypic characteristics of schizophrenia and affective disorders with the aim of providing a logical basis for diagnosis of these major psychiatric disorders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The somatotype of 54 schizophrenic and 68 affective disorder inpatients who fulfil the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia (subjects with schizophreniform, schizoaffective, schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders were excluded from the sample) and affective disorder (bipolar and unipolar) was assessed using the Health-Carter anthropometric method. RESULTS: The overall assessment of the somatotypes determined both groups as endomorphs mesomorphs with somatotype components 4.50-4.44-1.90 for schizophrenic patients and 5.87-5.40-0.36 for affective disorder patients. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant for any of the somatotype components. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the constitutional and somatotypic characterization appears reasonable element in the multifactorial analysis of diagnostic decisions in these major psychiatric disorders.