Empirical descriptions of mental patient syndromes and types

Used a cluster analytic procedure to describe mental illness. Data for 2,600 mental patients from a research record system were clustered into six symptom and four antecedent dimensions. The patients were typed into seven antecedent and seven symptom types according to their patterns of scores over these dimensions. The types were related to diagnostic data, the antecedent and symptom dimensions, impairment ratings, outcomes and biodata. Significant relationships of the types with all the classes of data are reported. The relationships of the types with four diagnostic classes and the merits of typing as a means of defining mental illnesses are discussed.