SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
608
psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia after the acute phase* Martin Harrow and Marshall L. Silverstein
Concepts about the nature of schizophrenia and psychosis have been challenged by a number of new findings in the area. One of the central ideas associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been the anticipation of an extremely negative outcome, and a negative symptomatic outcome in particular. This belief has been sharply questioned in recent years, in regard to relatively young, acute schizophrenics, by the work of Strauss and Carpenter and others, who found evidence suggesting relatively small differences in functioning between schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics some years after hospitalization (Strauss and Carpenter 1972 and Hawk, Carpenter, and Strauss 1975). In an earlier phase of our own work, using a young, acute sample, we found smaller differences between schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients than once would have been expected, although the overall indices of functioning still showed significant differences (Harrow, Bromet, and Quinlan 1974). Another of our recent studies using young schizophrenic patients has shown considerable differences in overall outcome between schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients (p
608
psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia after the acute phase* Martin Harrow and Marshall L. Silverstein
Concepts about the nature of schizophrenia and psychosis have been challenged by a number of new findings in the area. One of the central ideas associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been the anticipation of an extremely negative outcome, and a negative symptomatic outcome in particular. This belief has been sharply questioned in recent years, in regard to relatively young, acute schizophrenics, by the work of Strauss and Carpenter and others, who found evidence suggesting relatively small differences in functioning between schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics some years after hospitalization (Strauss and Carpenter 1972 and Hawk, Carpenter, and Strauss 1975). In an earlier phase of our own work, using a young, acute sample, we found smaller differences between schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients than once would have been expected, although the overall indices of functioning still showed significant differences (Harrow, Bromet, and Quinlan 1974). Another of our recent studies using young schizophrenic patients has shown considerable differences in overall outcome between schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic patients (p
