Schizophrenic patients with depression: psychopathological profiles and relationship with negative symptoms

This study investigates the occurrence of depression and related psychopathological features in chronic schizophrenics and attempts to examine whether depressive symptoms are independent of negative symptoms. We found that 54% of our sample of 240 chronic schizophrenics exhibited moderate to severe depression. Independent t tests showed that those high in depression tended to exhibit significantly more positive symptoms as defined by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Those with high depression do not exhibit significantly worse negative symptoms compared with low depression, clearly differentiating depression from negative symptoms. Results and the relationship to a previous factor-analytic study of schizophrenic symptoms are discussed.