S Rosenman1, A Korten, J Medway, M Evans. 1. Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. sjr@atrax.net.au
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the factorial structure of symptoms and signs in psychosis in data from the Study on Low Prevalence (psychotic) Disorders which is part of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Australia 1997-1998. METHOD: The present study examined a wide variety of symptoms taken from the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry items and the substance use items in the Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis, an instrument specially constructed for the national study. The instrument was applied to 980 community and hospital subjects with a wide range of psychotic illness diagnoses. The data were factor analysed and scales of 'domains of psychopathology' derived. RESULTS: The data were best fitted by five principal factors ('domains') which can be approximately labelled dysphoria, positive symptoms, substance use, mania and negative symptoms/incoherence. These factors together explained 55.4% of variance in symptoms. Solutions with more numerous factors did not improve the representation. CONCLUSION: The five domains successfully characterise a large part of the variance in psychopathology found in the present study of low prevalence (psychotic) disorders. The approach allows sufferer's symptom range and severity to be well expressed without multiple comorbid diagnoses or the limits imposed by categorical diagnosis. Knowledge of alternative dimensional representations of psychopathology may usefully complement our use of categories, enhance awareness of symptoms and ensure that important psychopathology is heeded in practice and research.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the factorial structure of symptoms and signs in psychosis in data from the Study on Low Prevalence (psychotic) Disorders which is part of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Australia 1997-1998. METHOD: The present study examined a wide variety of symptoms taken from the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry items and the substance use items in the Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis, an instrument specially constructed for the national study. The instrument was applied to 980 community and hospital subjects with a wide range of psychotic illness diagnoses. The data were factor analysed and scales of 'domains of psychopathology' derived. RESULTS: The data were best fitted by five principal factors ('domains') which can be approximately labelled dysphoria, positive symptoms, substance use, mania and negative symptoms/incoherence. These factors together explained 55.4% of variance in symptoms. Solutions with more numerous factors did not improve the representation. CONCLUSION: The five domains successfully characterise a large part of the variance in psychopathology found in the present study of low prevalence (psychotic) disorders. The approach allows sufferer's symptom range and severity to be well expressed without multiple comorbid diagnoses or the limits imposed by categorical diagnosis. Knowledge of alternative dimensional representations of psychopathology may usefully complement our use of categories, enhance awareness of symptoms and ensure that important psychopathology is heeded in practice and research.
Authors: Eske M Derks; Judith Allardyce; Marco P Boks; Jeroen K Vermunt; Ron Hijman; Roel A Ophoff Journal: Schizophr Bull Date: 2010-09-23 Impact factor: 9.306
Authors: Philip James Brittain; Sarah Elizabeth Margaret Lobo; James Rucker; Myanthi Amarasinghe; Anantha Padmanabha Pillai Anilkumar; Martin Baggaley; Pallavi Banerjee; Jenny Bearn; Matthew Broadbent; Matthew Butler; Colin Donald Campbell; Anthony James Cleare; Luiz Dratcu; Sophia Frangou; Fiona Gaughran; Matthew Goldin; Annika Henke; Nikola Kern; Abdallah Krayem; Faiza Mufti; Ronan McIvor; Humphrey Needham-Bennett; Stuart Newman; Dele Olajide; David O'Flynn; Ranga Rao; Ijaz Ur Rehman; Gertrude Seneviratne; Daniel Stahl; Sajid Suleman; Janet Treasure; John Tully; David Veale; Robert Stewart; Peter McGuffin; Simon Lovestone; Matthew Hotopf; Gunter Schumann Journal: PLoS One Date: 2013-03-08 Impact factor: 3.240