Subtypes of negative symptoms: the primary subtype in schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic patients

1. The specificity of negative symptoms remains an open question and requires further research. 2. Subtyping negative symptoms has been showed to be a very relevant point for the identification of primary negative symptoms and for their pharmacotherapy. Negative symptoms as a whole have been demonstrated in schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic patients, but these studies did not report about the primary and secondary subtypes. 3. The present study is the first one investigating primary negative symptoms in schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic patients. 84 consecutively admitted psychiatric patients have been studied 5 years after their discharge. 4. All negative symptoms (including the primary subtype) according to Carpenter (Kirkpatrick et al. 1989) and Andreasen (Andreasen 1981) could be identified in all diagnostic groups.