Stages of onset of schizophrenic psychosis.

On the basis of a review of the literature describing the process of schizophrenic illness, the authors conclude that schizophrenic psychosis is one stage in a process of psychological and biological breakdown that has a specific structure and a characteristic unfolding consisting of the sequential appearance of hierarchically ordered, distinguishable, and recognizable psychological states. They present on illustrative case history of a patient who was able to describe her feelings during the process of decompensation to schizophrenic psychosis and two case histories of patients whose decompensations were rated according to the authors' State of Illness Rating Scale.