[Phenomenology of cycloid axis syndromes and their delineation from a schizophrenic core group]

The concept of cycloid psychoses means a certain species as part of the group of schizophrenias. From our clinical point of view, the subtypes of Leonard and their poles are axial syndromes. They can occur simultaneously or intermingle during one phase. In the present phenomenological study the inner connections of these axial syndromes are shown. Apart from these connections, cycloid psychoses can be differentiated from core schizophrenia by three conditions: (1) the lack of deformation of affect and affect expression; (2) the lack of deformaton of thought structure; and (3) the lack of certain movement deformations, e.g., parakinesis. Our concept of phenomenon is explained to criticize the current operational definitions of cycloid psychoses. A different approach is suggested.