Schizotypal dimensions in normals and schizophrenic patients: a comparison with other clinical samples

Schizotypy is usually referred to as a "liability" to schizophrenia, but it could also be more generally referred to as nonspecific "psychosis-proneness". This study examined the structure of schizotypy in a normal sample and in a sample of schizophrenics through the administration of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Within a "fully dimensional" approach to psychiatric disorders, this study also compared SPQ scores in clinical samples of subjects with bipolar, unipolar and obsessive-compulsive (OCD) disorders. The results suggested that the disorganized three-factor model, Cognitive-Perceptual, Interpersonal Deficits and Disorganization, underlies individual differences across samples of normal and schizophrenic patients. Furthermore, the SPQ measures discriminated schizophrenia and bipolars from major depression but not from OCD.