First admission schizophrenia: clinical manifestation and subtypes

This paper describes the clinical manifestations and classification of schizophrenia in Singapore. The subjects were all first admission to Woodbridge Hospital in 1975. They were followed up 5, 10 and 15 years later. There were 423 patients. Of these, 17% had no delusions or hallucinations and 14% presented with only negative and withdrawn behaviour. They can be subdivided into four subtypes: paranoid, hebephrenic, "catatonic" and simple. Follow-up study showed that the percentage of full, partial and no recovery remained the same at around 30%, 30% and 40% at the end of 5, 10 or 15 years. The paranoid subtypes had best outcome and the simple had the worst outcome. Bleuler's criteria and his subtypes of schizophrenia are accepted by most psychiatric textbooks. These criteria did not include behavioural disturbances which are the commonest manifestations in this study. Other follow-up studies confirmed that paranoid patients have the best long-term outcome.